Great Access is When Disability seems to Disappear

Sam_Alumni

Our community champion @mossycow has written a post about the importance of access guides.

At the heart of ‘Disabled Access Day’ this March is confidence. Confidence to take a risk, try something new and discover ways of breaking down the everyday barriers so that as many people as possible can join in. Those who find themselves disabled take risks and are forced to be brave everyday. A simple trip to a show becomes a complex manoeuvre:
Where do I park?
Will my wheelchair fit?
Will I be able to see the person signing the show?
How do I afford to pay for tickets for me and my carer because I can’t come without them?
How do I get to the toilet?
How on earth do I come to a show if I can’t sit still in a hard chair for an hour?…
It is stressful and exhausting and often the only answer is to give up and miss out. For me, as a disabled person, to be present in an audience represents effort, lots of questions, a little pain, but most of all risk and being brave.

You can read the rest of the post here.

Tell us about your experiences, we'd love to hear from you.

Misscleo

Been there since 1983.
And NO it dosnt get any better
The biggest problems are caused by people who are ableboded. 
Ie: stupid remarks. Standing in the way. Putting stuff in the way 

mossycow

Absolutely, attitude is everything. You're right, and I didn't talk about that enough. There are three parties in this not two. I mention the disabled service user/customer, the service provider/venue etc.. But there's also the other r people around us. 

I think that's worth it's own blog post. Many thanks for highlighting 

mossycow

But I do disagree in that for me it is getting better. There is more awareness. It doesn't mean that progress is fast enough but small changes have made a big difference to me moving around my community. 

Daft things like bars of toilet doors are appearing as I'm gently complaining about the lac of them. Information is appearing on websites. 

But, my frame of reference is much smaller than yours, certainly in time and possibly in Geography.