I am sometimes wonder how companies managed to make rooms and buildings accessible, especially when they are old buildings.
Since Dave got his wheelchair, we are realising that they don’t.
In the last few months I have been to a hotel, where you could get the wheelchair into the door of the room and into a wonderful bathroom, but you could only access the bathroom. You could get to the bed, the TV or window in a wheelchair – which make the room inaccessible in my eyes!
More recently we have been to theatre that claim to be accessible but really aren’t.
Theatre can put in ramps, but if after you have negotiated the ramp, you have to taken on the whole of the foyer to get into the theatre, then the theatre really isn’t accessible.
Other theatre have a ramp and a special way to enter and then have a steep rake, which is great for the audience but awful for wheelchair users to negotiate.
So theatres, do the disabled a favour and be clear how accessible your venue is.
More importantly if you are a theatregoer, remember that the disabled person doesn’t think the theatre is only for them, it is just that it takes a lot of effort and some assistance to do what you can do easily, so making snide comments does not help – if you can be anything – be kind
