Wheelchair user told she cannot sit with her children at the Paralympics.

[carernotasaint]

www.blottr.com/breaking-news/second-wheelchair-user-told-she-cannot-sit-her-children-olympics

I am disabled and use a wheelchair and sticks. We went to the Ricoh Stadium last week to watch the Women's football. I was in my chair because there was no way I could have got up and down the steps, and I was allowed one person to sit with me ( DH) and my teens had to sit in the seating area just behind us.

I did wonder how on earth they would accomodate a family with a disabled adult and younger children. But, TBH, it is always like this where ever we go to seated events like concerts in arenas.

It is shit and I don't know what the answer is!

And its not the first time.

www.blottr.com/breaking-news/wheelchair-user-claims-paralympic-organisers-have-denied-her-sitting-family

From a safety perspective, there just isn't much else they can do.

What if there are riots or a stampede? Being out of the fray means that you can get helped out quicker.

It is shit but they need to be as safe as they can possibly be.

Note the disgusting patronizing comment underneath about pandering to the disabled.

My comment?

tbh isn't this normal at events?
she lost me with her scroungers/shut in comment

I meant the comment underneath one of the articles that i linked to.

I got that about 5 seconds after I posted. Sorry :)

No probs x

Would it be inconsiderate for the Olympics committee to sort of cordon off an area specifically for wheelchair users around the park and ask when you book your tickets if you are a family or not? Perhaps they should have a policy that if you're an adult with younger children (under say 16), the children can sit with the parent in the wheelchair section?

I have no idea how they could do it so it's still safe for the people in wheelchairs but also so that they aren't alienated?

There wasn't even room in the Ricoh stadium to do that Kick. There was a row which went sort of like this:

Space for wheelchair, 2 fixed seats, space, repeat 4 or 5 times.

TBF to the organisers and staff there last week, we couldn't have been better looked after. DH went free, we had free parking, shuttle bused to the stadium, no queing, a member of staff checking on us regularly throughout the match to check if I needed anything.

I have been treated far worse than I was treated last week, I can tell youespecially when Thomson airlines sold my welfare seats as extra leg room and refused to make the passengers move!

Like coconut we went to the ricoh - ds is a wheelchair user and chose dh to sit with him. I was on the row in front but not immediately in front so it was a bit lonely!

Lots of have one carer limit it's not ideal but if they accommodate more family with the person then there would be fewer spaces for other wheelchairs.

Maybe they could just take the financial knock a bit and have a bit more spaces allocated to wheelchairs?

Or is that daft?

That is awful. I can understand that the practical considerations would mean that a wheelchair user cannot always sit with the rest of their group - for example, if a wheelchair user is part of a large group of adults. However, where there are minor children, I really think provision should be made for them to sit with their parent.

'Maybe they could just take the financial knock a bit and have a bit more spaces allocated to wheelchairs?'

Agree with KickTheGuru

you could report it to: Attitude is Everything

They audit venues for access/suitability and produce reports for the government, which have turned into well-used guidance for venue/event hosts over the years. very, very good campaigning group.

This is the bit that really dropped my jaw:

The agent responded that I should never have been sold the tickets as the children can't go in without an adult. I explained to her that I AM an adult, and she had to backtrack and admit she meant a non-disabled adult.

Maybe they can try to excuse the seating arrangements because of safety/fire risk considerations, but there is no excuse for discounting someone as a responsible adult because they happen to be disabled.

This was featured on Channel 4 news tonight. They might put it on their website. At the end of the interview Jon Snow told her that they would like to follow her story further and will report back with how she gets on.

I think part of the problem is people who have never been to big stadium events before having unrealistic expectations.

Yes, a disabled person should be able to sit with their family. But has anyone ever been to a stadium where this is the case?

The the problem with pre-existing stadia is that the wheelchair accessible areas are built into the stadium design. Having been to the Ricoh I am not sure how they could have accomodated more wheelchair users/space within the design unless they were pitchside.

I guess the Olympics was much more of a family event that a Football match potentially demanding bigger family groups in general with some that would have been wheelchair users. In most cases families could be accomodated safely by splitting adult + child and adult + child. There would have been a smaller number where this was not possible to do safely - could they have acomodated more in the wheelchair area - maybe. Should they have accomodated more in the wheelchair areas - maybe - but what about those that want to sit together rather than need to?

But vj32 it shouldn't be an unrealistic expectation. Especially at the Paralympics and at venues that have been specifically built for these events.

That's shocking!

I know it wasn't the biggest of venues but I went to the olympic volleyball at Earl's court and I'm sure that those in wheelchairs had everyone they came with sitting with them. I was a long way away but there seemed to be whole families seated on the court level with one wheelchair user.

And yes, I would have thought that the paralympics would definitely be equipped for it. They must get a huge amount more disabled vistors than any other event.

Its really inexcusable at this particular event as this scenario is and was foreseeable. H&S is always used as a get out clause but it's often an excuse used to cover up bad planning or to save money. There is no reason that with foresight and planning (I believe they may have spent one or two years planning this particular event) there is no reason that they couldn't have produced accessible inclusive provision for families as well as individuals at the paraolympics. In fact if they had consulted with a half decent accessibility consultant or architect with this kind of experience in the process they should have got this right. I'm guessing they were too busy getting the corporate sponsorship comfortable that obvious logistics related to this section of the general public was missed. (we don't make enough money)