When people start talking about accessibility, handicap access, or disability services in general, what generally comes to mind are infrastructure regulations, costly adaptations, governmental standards, expensive equipment, burdensome care … basically, nightmare scenarios.

When I arrived for my study abroad program in France, fresh off the plane from California and wearing my shorts, I wasn’t all that surprised to discover that my school had no disabled student services. After all, this was the Old World. Still, I enquired at the administration desk. I was met with looks of disbelief. “Note-taking services? No, we’re sorry, but that is not possible.”

Before arriving in Paris, I had just completed a four-year degree at UC Berkeley. The administration staff had contacted me even before I had arrived on the Berkeley campus, asking if I needed any special services. Since I was hard-of-hearing, they suggested having students in each of my classes to be my note-takers. The students were given carbon copy sheets of notepaper, and paid for taking notes. I sat next to them as they wrote the notes, to better follow the classroom lectures. At the end of each course I was given the copy of the notes.

These and other such services were not disproportionally costly nor burdensome. The campus had a thriving disability community.

In Paris, I approached my school’s administration with a proposal to launch similar basic-level accessibility services. I was told that they had already researched into it. “So… have you put anything in place?” No, but they had a stack of paper listing 40 proposals. They didn’t know where to start, and the challenge seemed daunting, not to mention costly and time-consuming.

To achieve big goals, take small steps.

I reasoned with them that they could start doing big changes by doing smaller steps. If a student arrives in a wheelchair, they didn’t have to retrofit whole buildings with elevators and perfectly inclined ramps. Using common sense, they could switch classrooms from inaccessible areas such as the third floor of an old building, to the ground floor of a more modern building.

Eventually I persuaded the school to set up a website where students could get information about disability services. They could contact the right person in the administration to address their concerns. With the support of school administration and minimal expenses, efficient adaptations went a long way to providing a better experience for disabled students.

Applying common sense created an optimal response to an imperfect environment. These small measures addressed 80% of the issues on accessibility that the school faced. And slowly but surely they began their gradual transition towards accessibility. So that they would eventually be able to make the push to address the remaining 20% of issues.

The name of that school? Sciences Po Paris.

Accessibility is a big goal. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how big the goal. Start small. Use common sense. And you will get to your destination.

Through the concerted effort of individuals, today Sciences Po Paris boasts of being one of France’s leading disability-friendly schools.