The concept and terminology of ‘accessibility’ have in recent years become very fashionable. This is partly a reflection of a gradually increasing awareness of the desires, needs and aspirations of all sorts of groups within society that were in the past insufficiently taken into account or else completely ignored. So with women, children, the elderly, those of particular races or nationalities, those of different religions (or denominations) or none, those of particular lifestyles or sexual orientations—each has been gradually recognised, and brought into the mainstream of society. Thus, for example, we now take it for granted that equal facilities should generally be afforded for men and women—but it is not so long since this was far from universal.