For Lorraine Wright, the simple tasks of going to the shops or the doctors proves to be difficult.
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The Canberra resident has been in a wheelchair for the past three months following complications from surgery, and said accessibility around the national capital was a challenge at the best of times.
"I get around, but with great difficulty. I have to go to the health centre three times a week to get my dressings changed, and it's a struggle getting up from the gutter to the pavement," she said.
"I just don't go to some places any more because the access is so bad."
Mrs Wright said while many large buildings and large events such as Floriade around Canberra were often inaccessible to people in wheelchairs, it's many of the footpaths that provide the largest challenges.
"It's hard enough to access when there's no cutaway and it's badly maintained. There's been a number of times that I've nearly fallen out of my chair," she said.
"There's always the worry of falling out of the wheelchair ... even if you hit something like a small bump.
"My husband has to often push me on the roads because the footpath is so bad."
Her husband John has also been calling out for greater disability access across Canberra, having tried to petition several years ago to improve access at the ACT Legislative Assembly.
"If there was someone in a wheelchair in the chamber, they would have to be lifted down, which could be difficult," he said.
Issues surrounding disability access in Canberra are also being faced up on Parliament House, following the election of new Greens senator Jordon Steele-John.
The 23-year-old, who uses a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy, said while the parts of federal parliament open to the public are easily accessible, those behind closed doors are not.
"It's the most pre-eminent building in Canberra, and while the public areas are accessible, nobody thought that there might be staffers or MPs or ministers that might have a disability," he said.
"A number of the doorways here have been quite challenging to get through because they're not wide enough, and the areas are fully fitted out with some of the most plush carpet at the time, but pushing a wheelchair through that is like pushing it through treacle."
The newly-appointed senator is the first member of the upper house with a disability, with adjustments already being made to offices.
Desks are being modified to be slightly higher to accommodate for his wheelchair, as well as making the bathrooms more accessible.
Ramps have been put into the chamber itself to allow for access, although the senator said some of the precedents in parliament may also have to be reworked.
"In terms of senate procedure, ironically, is called standing orders, where you must stand in order to address the chamber," he said.
"I'll have to be amending standing orders while sitting down, and there may be need to be modifications to the division bells, so there'll be discussions around that."
A spokeswoman for the ACT government said public buildings in Canberra had been brought into compliance as part of the disability discrimination act.
"ACT building plans approved since 2011 have been required to comply with building standards prescribed under the act," the spokeswoman said.
"Where more than 50 per cent of a building is extended in a three-year period, the entire building must be brought into compliance with the Building Code of Australia."
The spokeswoman said disabled parking and ramps in public spaces were provided in accordance to the relevant standards.
