With my husband in a wheelchair, there are somethings we accept we will not be able to do.
Sometimes they are things you have done before, like a Rib Ride, visiting some Castles, concerts at Royal Albert Hall, travelling on the train or tube, having a choice of where to sit at theatres and concerts and being able to get off a Cruise ship at every port.
There are some things you have never done before that you now can’t do, like Secret Cinema, West End Brunch, applied to do Survivor or the Mole (a TV programme involving activities) and walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
However, sometimes there are things you could do, if only able bodied people thought as if they were disabled. It is fine offering an Accessible Room but if you can’t get in the bathroom in your wheelchair or you can’t reach the grab rails is it really Accessible.
It’s not OK to arrange for a ramp to let a person into a venue but then go walkabout when it is time for them to leave, so they have to rely on help from others to lift the wheelchair out and help them down the stairs.
So if you say you are Accessible, make sure you are, disabled people need the adaptations for a reason, not for fun.
