Access All Areas

Rough terrain, perpetual motion and very little sleep can make festivals a challenge for all of us. While some hardships – sunburn, mud, losing your tent in the middle of the night – are all part of the experience there are some things festivals must get right if they’re to be considered safe environments to play in. Drinking water, first aid and portaloos are crucial, but not all festivalgoers’ needs are the same.

“Things have changed significantly,” says Jacob Adams (pictured below), “but there is still much to do.” Jacob works for Attitude Is Everything, a charity dedicated to making live music events inclusive for disabled people. “You now see many venues and festivals advertising various levels of access provision, because awareness and importantly demand are growing.  It was not very long ago that you had major festivals not providing any viewing platforms.  Now many festivals have platforms at every major stage.” 

As the organisation’s Festival Project Manager, Jacob is responsible for signing up festivals to a Charter of Best Practice, designed to ensure deaf and disabled people can enjoy live music with independence. “Even the smallest festivals on our Charter have accessible camping,” Jacob explains, “2000trees has a dedicated section of camping with accessible toilets and water points, and power charging for power chair batteries.  At the other end of the scale, Glastonbury now has accessible toilets and showers, an adult Changing Places toilet with track-mounted hoist, medication storage, scooter hire, massage services and shuttle buses.” A lot of festivals offer dedicated access routes for use by disabled customers, while others – including Latitude and Kendal Calling – provide accessible buggies. “Many also implement queue-jumping systems,” says Jacob, “for example entry to the late night area at Glastonbury.” 

Accessibility isn’t only an issue for wheelchair users, who represent just eight per cent of disabled people in the UK.  Jacob believes awareness of other needs is growing: “Glastonbury, Reading and Latitude feature British Sign Language interpretation services. All Charter festivals aim to have hearing loops installed in locations where spoken word features on the program.” Market forces play their own part in bringing change: “the growth in festivals offering adult changing facilities is due to increased demand linked to other access facilities being provided”, says Jacob. 

There’s room for improvement though, not least where people with learning disabilities are concerned. Jacob is quick to praise Just So Festival, who “have ensured that children with sensory and learning disabilities can meet performers away from large crowds and queues.” Meanwhile, Access Is Everything continue to campaign on several fronts – working with festival organisers to design “photo-based guides” for people with learning disabilities, or organising workshops to gather opinions and experiences from festivalgoers themselves.  “The festivals that do the most”, Jacob believes, “are those that have passionate people with the right attitude to saying yes before saying no.” 

For more information visit www.attitudeiseverything.org.uk