I’m kinda Saad again at the acxess in a concert. I’m sat here wishing I was sat at the front where I should be given how long I’ve been here today.
Can’t dwell too much or I’ll get upset.
Tag: Concerts
I’m sorry. It’s been a long day.
If you read my previous post you’ll know that I had plans for what today’s post was going to be. But I’m here to tell you those plans have now been forgotten.
I’m still up. I’m still out. My brother had a concert to go to, and the tickets were booked before he had a mobility aid that he now uses, and so the tickets aren’t accessible. He can manage without it with help, so I was left watching it tonight. Which is obviously fine. It’s just a very long day.
It meant that I have had to cancel my care in order to be out, and I have now been up for over 12 hours. Additionally I got wet in the rain this morning, and there’s no real way for me to get changed if I get wet in the day. That means I’ve been stuck slightly wet for most of the day, which isn’t great.
So I said it’s just been a long day.
The extra steps.
So I’ve been going to more concerts and events lately, and while this is great, it means explaining my disability over and over again, and apply for the accessible seating and carers support. There is supposed to be one universal way to do this, but unsuprisingly some places simply won’t take it or have different ways to send the information they deem as necessary to them.
Something I’m applying to currently has taken so long for me to sort out, that the tickets in the area that I wanted have now gone. This means that my sister who was supposed to be going as my carer, now may not be able to sit with us. And honestly this defeats the point of carer when you think about it.
Hopefully I am able to get it sorted, but we’ll see. But this one is just a reminder of the extra steps that exist in doing pretty much anything when your disabled, and the reality is that even when you’ve done all of them you might not be able to go, or you might not be able to sit with the people you wanted to go with.
To explain this better I’m going to include a list of all the extra steps I had to take in order to get tickets for this event, simply because I am a wheelchair user.
- Firstly, I had to find out if the venue was wheelchair and scooter accessible.
- Secondly, I had to ensure that the venue would support both someone in a wheelchair and a mobility scooter sitting together. I did clarify this in step one, but as usually the view on disability is so limited in society, that they didn’t understand what I was asking properly so I had to ask it again. I was then able to buy the tickets.
- I had to find out if they would accept they offered careers tickets. They do, but not all events do, which is bad when you realise that whether a person does or doesn’t need a carer is not dependent on whether the venue offers the carers ticket. If they don’t disabled people will often have to buy a ticket or several tickets depending on there needs, this is part of what is known as the disability tax, the extra cost of being disabled in society. It is real believe me.
- After finding out they would accept the proof that I have, I had to send it to them.
- As per this venues rules, I then had to purchace another ticket for my carer, which as you know lead to me writing this post, as I have not been able to do this yet.
This is 5 extra steps that I have had to take, so far, in order to attend this event. And believe me when I say this has been one of the more simple events to figure out the accessibility of.
If the world was more accessible as a whole, and disability was simply viewed as part of the norm, I and many others would not be having to deal with this simply to have some fun.
Please forgive me if the spelling isn’t to accurate on this post, I used a public computer, so the settings aren’t exactly right for me. That said, as always do let me know if any mistakes impact the clarity of this post.
You have to take the advantages when you can.
So I’m going to do my best to explain the advantage wheelchair post from Friday, forgive me though as its taken a couple of days.
As I believe I said I went to a concert on Friday, one which was nicely accessible but had some key elements of inaccessibility, as these things often do. There was also ableism present, which had some good and bad consequences during the evening.
I have to start with the fact that I could get in the building be a major win for accessibility. This is not always a certainly, but I of course checked this out beforehand so was not surprised. The surprising part came when they allowed us to skip the entire queue. Which is obviously not equity, but if anyone wants to be disabled to take this one perk, I’ll swap.
We were then able to be near the front, leading to a great experience. Now my view was obscured a little but I knew it would be. I chose not to go on the accessibility platform and that’s the price of that decision. Its just the way it is, equality of equity, costs.
Now on to the ice cream. Earlier that day before the concert I went to go see someone close to me and I was given free ice cream by someone they know. They thought they were doing something nice, and I won’t lie the ice cream was nice. But the ableism of them giving me the ice cream was weird.
While it was nice to get upfront at the concert and the ice cream wss nice. I would have had a perfectly good time at the concert if I had the exact same access and treatment as everyone else, and I can pay for my own ice cream.
I also hope that a day will come where I won’t have to check if I can get into a building.
Yesterday was a weird day.
I say this because I experienced verbal abuse for my online activism, followed by the most accessible concert I have been to thus far.
I call my Facebook posts activism, because that’s what others have called what I have been doing so online, but honestly I’m just telling my truth. If others want to call it activism that’s for them to decide. But whether or not you agree with what I’m doing, it should be taken with the understanding that I’m posting on Facebook for a specific reason, I don’t think shouting at someone in the street is an appropriate response to this. But it is perhaps one I expected, that’s not to say I wasn’t massively shocked by it when it happens. I can tell you this much though, one person shouting at me or several for that matter, isn’t going to stop me.
Now for the concert, it was amazing, and the opening act is definitely a new music interest for me, which is always nice. Hearing some of my favourite songs acoustically and some wonderful new ones was an amazing experience. That said this blog is of course about inaccessibility or in this case surprisingly, accessibility.
The picture above shows how close the accessible area of the crowd was to the stage. This made me so happy as in previous concerts even when I have got there several hours early, I have ended up near the back due to this being where the accessible area is. In all honesty it annoys me that I was made to go in the accessible area at all.
I can see why some people would benefit from having a separate accessible area, but in all honesty I would like to part of the crowd as a whole. When I have enquired about why I have to be in a separate area in the passed I have been told it’s for my own safety, which I think is probably common sense to translate that it’s so the venue doesn’t get sued or something if I were to become injured. If this is the case, I think I should be able to sign a waver of some kind that says I am aware of the possibility of getting hurt, and that I take full responsibility if that were to happen. I would like to take that risk, thank you very much.
But anyway, back to my first positive experience. I was there several hours early and therefore deserved to be close to the stage, as that was the whole reason I got there as early as I did. I was so happy to be in the front.
I hope the rest of the events I have this year are equally accessible. I’m not holding my breath though. But if nothing else goes right, at least this did.
10 out of 10 for accessibility Academy 3 Manchester.
In other related updates, I did receive a reply from the complaint that I put in for the Scouting for Girls and Olly Murs concert. Lets just say I am not happy about the response that I got, but I’m not exactly ready to deal with it yet.
It would not surprise me if they make it specifically difficult as a deterrent for people so that they don’t complain. Either way I’m not giving up. It’s just not for today.
OLLY MURS AND SCOUTING FOR GIRLS
What was the last live performance you saw?
It had its faults in Accessibility wise, which i am still dealing with both practically and emotionally.
But I have to admit it was great just to get to sing.
Although note to self for future concerts. You don’t need that much merchandise 😅
Putting in a complaint
One day I will be able to go to a concert and not have an access problem, but it seems Friday was not that day.
We arrived half an hour before the start of our concert to learn that our group of three had been split into areas, despite clarifying on the phone that we would only purchase the tickets if our group could sit together. We were told that the three of us would be able to sit together, if we were happy to squeeze into an accessible space for two, and this in itself would not have been a problem, if it was the only problem.
The space we were shown to had a camera placed in it, as the event was been live streamed, a picture of this is shown below. It seems this space was double booked as accessible seating and press.
It took more than 20 minutes for the staff to find somewhere else for us to move into, which resulted in us missing the first songs of the supporting act, who I was specifically looking forward to seeing.
I don’t think this would have happened for the non-accessible seating, as able paying guest would be unlikely to loose there seating to camera equipment. Our treatment at the event was there fore ableist and I am in the process of putting in a complaint.
Disabled show goers, already do not get to choose where we want to sit, we already have to compromise by sitting in the accessible seating area, that is usually near the back. We are told this is for our safety. But I personally believe it is to stop the event organising being sued. I personally wish that I could sign some sort of waver that would allow me to sit nearer the stage.
This specific event had seating near the stage, so I don’t really understand any of the logic as to why I had to sit near the back anyway. But at the very least I deserve to sit in the space I have booked.
I will let you know how the complaint goes.
Concert Time.
I’m very excited because mainly because I am going to see Olly Murs and Scouting For Girls this evening, but I’ll be honest I’m worried. Having fun is risky, when you’re disabled simply because the fun may not be accessible.
Something important you should try to remember when inviting disabled people to events, is what they may have to give up to go. When you’re disabled you often have to give things up, to compromise in order to experience the fun things in life. Whether this be compromising something specific, or compromising on your comfort and routine, which you’ll pay for later to experience the fun.
For me, I’ve had to give up a night of my personal care, and will have to be in my wheelchair longer. But it’s worth it.
I’m not saying not to invite disabled people to things, we deserve to be included, but simply to be aware of what being involved in the things you invite us to, may cost.
My previous experiences of concerts, not that I have much of it in all honesty, haven’t been the most accessible. But we’re giving it a new go tonight, and hoping for widely new and different experiences, that involve some dancing and very bad singing.
I’ll let you know, probably tomorrow now, how I get on with the concert accessibility wise, but I’m sure I will have a great time.
I apologies if this post comes across as rushed, I am in the process of getting ready for tonight.
My Inaccessible Life 