Sir, – Going out for lunch together is a weekly occasion for my wife and I. But, as I am disabled due to Post-Polio Syndrome, some cafes and restaurants are not very easy to get into and their toilet facilities may not be very disabled-friendly either.

“Disabled” is very often understood as meaning a person using a wheelchair, but this is by no means the totality of disabled persons – as the Paralympics have shown us, par excellence.

I walk with the aid of two elbow-crutches: the ramps very thoughtfully provided for wheelchair users are a barrier to me unless they have a sturdy handrail along their full slope. Steps also need full-length handrails, which do not have to be ugly or out of keeping with the general decor of the place, as we have seen in a number of restaurants.

The floor is also important, the lovely shiny tiles so beloved of the interior designer are a hazard for the crutch-user – the more so when wet. More than one toilet I have encountered has been like a skating-rink; and that includes disabled toilets, in which the handrails provided may not be adequate to prevent serious slipping. Some municipal toilets even carry a hazard warning – not much use when you want to access the toilet.

Non-slip flooring is so readily available that I am amazed at its frequent absence – perhaps that is because it doesn’t look so pretty. Even that has its hazards, because some non-slip flooring loses its adhesion when wet – beware of non-slip flooring which has green or red flecks in it; the grey is much safer.

It has to be said that the status of the establishment does not indicate the status of its disabled facilities. A garden centre near to us is very well-equipped, whereas a fairly up-market hotel and restaurant less than two miles from it is very poorly equipped.

As the population continues to age, the number of disabled persons wishing to eat out is bound to increase. Now is the time for all eating places to take a critical look at their disabled-friendliness – and to ask disabled people what they need. Perhaps the local branch of the British Polio Fellowship might be a very good starting point.

ADRIAN BULL Linthorpe, Middlesbrough.