The official website for the Eiffel Tower offers a disabled rate – available for the person with the disability and one companion (so you get two tickets at 50% rather than the usual full price ticket plus one complimentary ticket, but it works out the same). You can just buy the disabled rate tickets online but you should take your proof of eligibility (e.g. a UK blue badge) with you.

We had pre-booked tickets with a guided tour. Pre-booking is absolutely essential as they sell out so quickly – tickets are released 60 days in advance and when I looked about 10 days after they were released, there were only two tickets left for that day (that's from the official website – there are other places you can get from that probably don't sell out so quickly, but they are more expensive and don't necessarily have the reduced disabled rate that you can get on the official website).

At the designated meeting point for the guided tour, we were given a set of headphones with a device to connect to the tour guide's microphone. The headphones just had a standard headphone jack, so you could use your own if you preferred. The first part tour was to look at the lift mechanism, which wheelchairs couldn’t get to. I had to wait by the lift while the rest of the tour group went to look – it only took a couple of minutes and I could still listen to the tour guide's commentary, so I didn't feel like I missed much.

We got the lift to the second floor, then circled around the tower with the tour guide telling us about the history and the views. The views are pretty spectacular, with Paris stretching pretty much as far as you can see. The handrails were positioned at the height that blocked my view around most of the tower. I had to lean forward and look underneath the handrails to see the views, not the most comfortable and a little frustrating – so by the time we'd finished the tour I was slightly disappointed with the visit.

We got the lift down to the first floor and it was quite a different experience. The views were still spectacular, but now I could take them in properly without handrails blocking my view. I personally found this floor much more interesting – you could look up or straight down through the sections of glass flooring to see the architecture of the tower. There was also a bar – ridiculously expensive, but drinking a beer looking out over Paris was a unique experience!

Overall I would say that whilst not everything was perfect, as a wheelchair user my experience was good and I'm definitely glad I went.