STRASBOURG, France (CN) — An Icelandic wheelchair racer lost his case over a lack of access to government buildings at Europe’s top rights court on Tuesday.
The European Court of Human Rights found that the Icelandic town of Reykjanesbær hadn’t discriminated against Arnar Helgi Lárusson because it had been making gradual improvements to accessibility at several municipal buildings.
“Reykjanesbær took considerable measures to assess and address accessibility needs in public buildings, within the confines of the available budget and having regard to the cultural heritage protection of the buildings in question,” the Strasbourg-based court wrote.
Together with a spinal cord advocacy group, Lárusson, who was paralyzed from the chest down after he broke six vertebrae in a motorcycle accident at the age of 26, sued his hometown in 2015 over the lack of wheelchair access for two municipal arts and cultural centers. The Duushús and 88 Húsið buildings lacked ramps, lifts and disabled parking spaces.
Lárusson and the organization SEM argued the buildings violated code regulations and their lack of accessibility violated both Icelandic law and the European Convention of Human Rights, which established the Strasbourg court in 1959.
The Reykjanes District Court sided with the city in 2016, finding that the buildings - one constructed in the 1870s and the other in the 1960s - had been built before regulations requiring wheelchair access were passed. The court did, however, find that the city was obliged to make gradual improvements to all public buildings to make them accessible for wheelchair users.
Lárusson, who has competed in global wheelchair racing events, appealed and lost before the Icelandic Supreme Court. He then filed a complaint against Iceland with the European Court of Human Rights, which was created to protect the political and civil rights of Europeans.
The court's Third Section was sympathetic to the arguments of the Icelandic government in Tuesday's ruling. Authorities have been working to improve access to various municipal buildings and prioritized sports and education facilities, which the court felt was not an “unreasonable strategy of prioritization.” According to the seven-judge panel, the various improvements “demonstrate a general commitment to work towards the gradual realization of universal access.”
Swiss Judge Andreas Zünd, however, was not wholly convinced that the city had done all it could to improve access for Lárusson. In a dissenting opinion, he noted that one of the two buildings at issue had undergone extensive renovations between 2006 and 2014 and the city had given no explanation as to why access was not improved then.
The rights court has gradually expanded the obligations states have to their disabled citizens. Wheelchair users have won a series of cases over access, including requiring that prison and court facilities be made accessible. In 2021, the court sided with a Slovenian wheelchair user who had complained polling stations in the country were not accessible.
Follow @mollyquell
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
