A newly elected City of Edinburgh councillor is calling for "structural change" at the City Chambers after facing multiple access barriers on her first day.
Forth councillor Kayleigh O'Neill, who uses a wheelchair, said she wasn't briefed on how to access the council chambers or fire evacuation procedures before arriving on Monday (May 9).
Matters were made worse when she finally got inside the building and was told the lift was broken, preventing her from getting to the fourth floor where the Green group meets.
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She said senior figures in the council including the Chief Executive told her "sorry, this always happens".
And now the 22 year-old is even considering employing a personal assistant to help open doors when moving around the city centre meeting place off the Royal Mile.
Prior to her first trip as an elected representative, she said there "wasn't much information given about what entrances are accessible or where I was actually meeting".
She added: "I went down the Royal Mile entrance where the courtyard is which is very inaccessible, there's steps up to the flat parts and cobblestones around the other parts. Some of that is because of building works and the rest is because it's just a really old building."
Cllr O'Neill has since been informed about wheelchair access to the building via Cockburn Street, however wasn't made aware of this ahead of her first day.
She continued: "The corridors are very narrow and there's still the social distancing stickers laid about everywhere; I can't see how that would have been possible for anybody but especially for somebody in a wheelchair.
"I got shown around, had my induction, got my IT kit which was all good.
"And then I started asking questions like 'what's the best way to get to this office or that office' and I found out that the only lift that goes to floor number four where the Green group's meeting room and offices are wasn't working.
"We're looking at probably moving office because of things like that happening."
After hearing about her difficulties manoeuvring around the offices, Edinburgh City Council's Lord Provost Frank Ross and Chief Executive Andrew Kerr arranged a meeting with Cllr O'Neill.
"They were quite embarrassed and they were like 'oh sorry this always happens'," she said. "I thought, you're laughing but it's not really funny, it's quite stressful.
"I did ask how long it had been going on and they said 'I don't know, we've not been in the building for two-and-a-half years'.
"I heard that and thought, well you've had two-and-a-half years to make sure it works.
"There was no one-on-one and what really should have happened and what happens with other jobs - even if you book into a hotel - is you go through a personal evacuation plan, called a PEEP, which is just what's going to happen if there's a fire."
She said upon asking if an evac-chair was available – a specially designed seat which allows mobility-impaired people to be evacuated from buildings in emergency situations – staff's faces "were blank".
She added: "I'm seriously thinking about having to employ a personal assistant just to help open doors for me. The actual job I'm totally fine with but moving around the building is going to be such a barrier that I'm considering it.
"Staff are around and they're more than happy to hold doors for me which is great but it's when I ask for alternative routes and there's just no clue or awareness.
"There's a lot of times over the past two days where I've thought 'thank god I'm here'. It's awful to go through the access problems and feel like you don't belong or a bit of imposter syndrome."
Cllr O'Neill took to Twitter to share her first day experience at the City Chambers, detailing the various access barriers she encountered in a thread of tweets.
She said following that move, council staff set up a personal evacuation plan and have organised an induction about fire safety procedures for all councillors.
She added: "I'm really glad that folk have picked up on the thread because it was in no way trying to shame the council or anything like that, it was just an honest experience.
"I sincerely believe if I didn't do that thread then they probably wouldn't have came and spoke to me.
"At the beginning I thought it would be really simple and that the council just needs that voice in there to remind people to consider these things when it comes to housing issues or planning issues – having that extra voice that says 'have we considered this?' or 'where are the red lines with accessibility here?'
"But after going in I think this is going to have to be a proper societal, structural change because the building's not accessible, a lot of the processes aren't accessible."
