Mega Events / Conditions

Accessibility planned rather than accommodated

Retrofitting on the day serves nobody well.

Accessibility at events is frequently handled as a series of accommodations arranged in response to requests, which places the burden on the person needing them and produces inconsistent results depending on who they reached.

Planned properly it is a set of design decisions: viewing positions with genuine sightlines rather than a corner, accessible toilets in proportion and not at the far end of the site, routes that are actually navigable including surfaces, seating available for people who cannot stand for hours, and information published in advance so people can decide whether to attend.

The published information is the part most often missed and the cheapest to provide. Distances, surfaces, availability of seating and the location of facilities allow people to plan, and their absence forces a phone call that many people will not make.

Obligations under disability discrimination and access legislation, and any venue licensing conditions, differ by jurisdiction and should be established from the applicable law rather than from general practice.

The other accessibility element frequently missed is staff briefing. Accessible provision that exists but that gate staff and stewards do not know about is provision that cannot be found, and the person who most needs it is the least able to search the site for it.