to think BAFTA have just let down disabled people??

[LottieJenkins]

I was horrified just now when the Paralympics coverage won a BAFTA. Ade the wheelchair athlete wasnt able to access the stage the same as the other winners. They were all stood there saying "Where is Ade??" and he suddenly appeared from the side of the stage. It wouldnt have taken much to put a ramp there.
I rather hoped that after Tanni Grey Thompson was left off the winners rostrum at the Sports Personality award a few years ago that things might improve. Apparently not!!!!

[LayMizzRarb]

'Putting a ramp up' is not always as simple as slinging a flat piece of wood over some stairs. A ramp would have to be built, and subsequently assessed during a written risk assessment that TV Productions have to produce.
To put it in place just prior to this invidual award, would have involved the ramp structure needing to be examined and signed off as safe for people in wheelchairs to use, so not something that could be done in a matter of a couple of minutes.

[Amilliondifferentpeople]

But it has been done before!

[CloudsAndTrees]

A ramp would have to be built, and subsequently assessed during a written risk assessment that TV Productions have to produce.

And? I'm sure between them the Academy and ITV could have found the money.

You do not have to sign papers every time you put a ramp down. A purpose built ramp could be designed to go down in a couple of minutes. It would be good for the film and television industry to put money into stuff like this.

[numbum]

Maybe they had a ramp at the side of the stage? He didn't seem at all offended so why does it bother you?


does the PA blanking out of 'some people will find anything to get offended about'

[EduCated]

It bothers me because in so many cases it seems to be an after/non-thought. It may or may not have been in this case, but it seems a shame he didn't get to do the going up on stage in the same way when it is the big part of winning an award.

He might not have been bothered, but why should he have to be offended or not? Why can't we just adjust our default position to be inclusive, rather than only doing it when someone has to complain or make a fuss?

[trashcanjunkie]

why the fuck do we have stairs anyway. it's against DDA

[trashcanjunkie]

I know that sounds stupid, but I hate this kind of shit...

[Pigsmummy]

Thinking about this more I am sure that there must have been a ramp, out of sight. Otherwise how would he have gotten onto the stage in the time that he did. If there were potential winners needing special access then the organisers would have set this up.

Shall I find out?

[LottieJenkins]

Pigs Can you?? If so yes please!!

[MidniteScribbler]

If the other award winners had said "oh stuff it, we'll just start without him" then that would have been disgusting. But presumably there was a ramp off to the side that he could access, and they waited for him to get there before continuing. I think that comes under "reasonable adjustments".

[pollywollydoodle]

did't see it but you need 1foot of ramp for every inch of height (or so i was told when i wanted one at our back door) and that can be a lot of ramp so, would it have fitted?

[Dawndonna]

Trashcan What kind of shit?
Is it the shit that says you're disabled and therefore not worthy to enter the building by the front, or the stage by the entrance that everybody else is using or because disabled people are somehow seen as 'other'. Perhaps it's because it's the fact that those without a disability don't stop and think and seem somehow unable to comprehend that we have moved past the not seen nor heard stage.

[LottieJenkins]

Dawndonna............It is post's like yours that make me wish we had a like button by each comment!

[mrsjay]

Why can't we just adjust our default position to be inclusive, rather than only doing it when someone has to complain or make a fuss?

that they could have had a slope to get up to the stage and not just a set of what looked like removable stairs . other award shows manage it I Have seen it, before just a walk up slope so EVERYBODY can use it ,

[mrsjay]

I bloody love you dawndonna you are right of course you are right disabled shouldn't mean 'other' or have to go in special entrances people should be able to walk limp wheel in the same door

[TheSmallPrint]

Dawndonna I think trashcan was agreeing with you. However trashcan stairs are NOT 'against DDA'. As I mentioned before, the ramp would have to be long due to a max gradient of 1:20 with a max rise of 500mm (meaning a flat platform before each new rise) so say the stage was 1m high for example, the ramp would need to be approx. 22m long.

I imagine (pigs is checking) that a ramp was there. They have steps up to the stage because generally it is quicker to get the majority of able users up stairs than a long ramp and seeing as most people seem to dawdle getting up to the stage anyway (kissing everyone on route!) I would think that the organisers want everyone up as quickly as possible. I don't think there is an anti wheel chair adgenda here. I may be wrong though.

[mrsjay]

no I dont think there is an anti anything either thesmallprint but I do think they could have made the effort or not make it as noticible (god spelling) . anyway I am sure ade is a big boy and didnt pout about it, disabled people tend to brush things off and get on with life,

[QuintessentialOHara]

I know my dad is not an athlete, nor a tv presenteer (he is a mechanical engineer) but he would most definitely hate making a spectacle of himself getting his wheelchair up a mahoosively long ramp up to a stage. He would rather have wanted coming up the back-way than having a ramp built especially for him. Actually, he would not go to a venue at all, if it did not have any "dignified access".

[ClaraOswald]

There was probably a small lift to the side of the stage.

[TheSmallPrint]

Mrsjay, it was noticable how long it took, I agree. Perhaps it would have been nicer if his colleagues came up the ramp with him so they all arrived on stage together? I think if iI had been part of the team I would have done this.

[TheSmallPrint]

True Clara, there may have been and they are incredibly slow!

[Dawndonna]

I don't think there is an anti wheelchair user agenda here either. I do think that it hasn't been thought about, because they're different those wheelchair users, aren't they. They want things, but we haven't got the time or money to deal with it, so they'll just have to fit in the way we want them too. So, by not thinking about it, or by only cursorily thinking about it and then dismissing it, by not providing Quints 'dignified access, we make wheelchair users other. Well sod that, my 16 year old dd has been on here often enough, and pointed out that she is as articulate and intelligent as everybody else, she has the same emotions as everybody else, this doesn't make her less, or other, it makes her the same, but those who don't think these things through refuse to give her the opportunity to be the same and thereby marginalise her and deem her 'other'.

[QuintessentialOHara]

I dont know how you can get away with not providing proper disabled access to people. I am from the third biggest city in Norway, and when we wanted to have Christening dinner out for my sons, there were only two restaurants (aside from a sushi bar) who had wheelchair access. Both through the back yard, and both through the service/loading lift. My poor dad had to find the back entrance to the restaurant through a car park at the back, and come in through the loading bay. Change to a different lift on the first floor, next to the toilets, and take a different lift up to the restaurant level. This meant, if he needed the disabled toilet, he needed to down a level by lift.

I think many good and popular restaurants are in quaint locations and in old buildings as it adds to their charm and atmosphere, which are difficult to convert with everybody in mind

If anything the Bafta has highlighted just how inaccessible the world is if you are in a wheelchair.

[TheSmallPrint]

Dawn, I certainly don't think about wheel chair users in that way and I hope that's not what you think I'm suggesting. All new buildings are designed with level access as a matter of course and, unless there is a bloody good reason why not, this has to be the main door. All new buildings must have accessible wcs on the entrance level also. The problem usual comes in adapting existing buildings as Quint points out above. I also agree that the world is generally an inaccessible place if you are in a wheelchair.

[SirBoobAlot]

Speaking as someone who uses a wheelchair about 50% of the time, if there had been a slope going up to that height of stage, it would have been a nightmare. It would have either been short and steep, so a nightmare to get up, or would have had to run along nearly the entire front of the stage, plus room to access it... Having also worked with theater management, this would have been a nightmare to negotiate with the amount of people they have to accommodate within the hall. That, and it would have taken much longer to get past everyone and arrive on the stage.

They got him up on the stage. It's not as if they said, "This award is for a wheelchair user, but they can't get up here to accept it". They found a way for him to get on there, maintain his dignity and independence.

Honestly, I think they've handled it well in all honesty. It wasn't about making disability something to hide, it was about working within what was doable in the setting.