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| Download 2018 with my mate Mark |
Well, it's that time of year again when I get myself to Donnington Park and enjoy a weekend with 80,000 other rockers at Download.
I've been almost every year since 2010 when my friend Gregster talked me into going to a festival for the first time. The truth is I never thought I would be able to do it. Back then I was still very unwell and recovering from a knee replacement I'd had the year before, it took a hell of a long time to recover from that one. Gregster told me all about the disabled access campsite and all the arrangements that the access team make at big events like this one. I'd been to loads of gigs before, and used all access arrangements available to people with disabilities, but I'd never been to anywhere quite on the scale of a festival.
So I bought myself a ticket. AC/DC, Aerosmith and Rage Against the Machine headlined that year. It was one of the first times Rage had played in this country in years and it was only a week after they did their free gig at Finsbury Park as a thank you to fans for getting them to number one the Christmas before. (Yes, I went to that gig too!). Since then I have been to a festival every year.
Download - 2010
There are also viewing platforms at every festival where you get a great view. All platforms have toilets next to them which cannot be used by other festival goers. Some festivals even provide people who sign along to the music and generally have a good rock out!
You get given maps, if needed, of any access points to take you around the site, this sometimes means going in behind the stages or vip areas 👍, and there are also shuttle buses provided to help too. I've been able to hire off road wheelchairs which were charged up for me overnight, you have to pay extra for this service but it was well worth the money.
There are lots of people around to help, day and night, in case of an emergency. I've never had to use any of the medical services on site but I'm told they're very quick to respond. I always carry copies of my prescription/alert cards with me and tell my friends where they are in case of an emergency so medics know what's wrong with me and what medication I'm taking.
Above all I would say to anyone who attends a festival, disabled or not, is to be prepared, take enough warm clothes, blankets and obviously a poncho or two, it is Britain after all. The most important thing is to have fun, no one cares what you look like and you won't care either when you've had a months worth of rain tipped over you in one day!
Glastonbury - 2011
Download - 2012
Download - 2013
Glastonbury - 2013
Download - 2014
British Summer Time at Hyde Park - 2014
Download - 2015
Reading - 2015
Download - 2016
Download - 2017
Download - 2018
The first time I got to Donnington Park I discovered that there is a whole load of rock fans who happen to have disabilities. There are people there with just about every disability you can think of, and everyone is super friendly. The campsite is a little community tucked away from the main campsites that no one knows about. At last years Download the campsite was moved to make things easier for people with disabilities. As I only went for the day last year I don't know what the facilities are like and if this has made it any easier, although I did get to ride through, on the Donnington racetrack, in my wheelchair. I'm going for the weekend this year so I will update on how it's changed in a couple of weeks.
Pretty much every music venue has to have access for disabled people. There is always information on the venue website and it's best to check before you go. Most venues offer a free ticket for your carer so I would recommend you telephone the venue to ask before you book your tickets. I'm usually pretty cheeky when it comes to asking if they do the free PA ticket, which is quite unlike me, but if you don't ask, you don't get. For festivals you usually buy an ordinary entry ticket and then apply for a PA ticket after that. There is a form to fill in about your access needs and you need to show proof of disability.
I have just applied for an Access Card. http://www.accesscard.org.uk/ From what I can gather the access card is a charity and it means you only have to submit proof of disability to them, the list of appropriate evidence is on their website. Once this is done then all you need to do is tell the ticket agency or the venue that you have the card and everything is taken care of. This means you don't need to provide proof of disability to the venue itself, there is a list of participating venues on the website so it's best to check if there are any that are close to home. The card cost £15 for 3 years, I haven't used it yet but I will do a proper review of the process when I do.
I have just applied for an Access Card. http://www.accesscard.org.uk/ From what I can gather the access card is a charity and it means you only have to submit proof of disability to them, the list of appropriate evidence is on their website. Once this is done then all you need to do is tell the ticket agency or the venue that you have the card and everything is taken care of. This means you don't need to provide proof of disability to the venue itself, there is a list of participating venues on the website so it's best to check if there are any that are close to home. The card cost £15 for 3 years, I haven't used it yet but I will do a proper review of the process when I do.
The first time I got to Donnington Park I discovered that there is a whole load of rock fans who happen to have disabilities. There are people there with just about every disability you can think of, and everyone is super friendly. The campsite is a little community tucked away from the main campsites that no one knows about. At last years Download the campsite was moved to make things easier for people with disabilities. As I only went for the day last year I don't know what the facilities are like and if this has made it any easier, although I did get to ride through, on the Donnington racetrack, in my wheelchair. I'm going for the weekend this year so I will update on how it's changed in a couple of weeks.
There is always lots of help around if anyone needs anything. There are volunteers at Glastonbury that are purely there to help people put up their tents and get everything organised. I just sat in my car and waited while the girls and the volunteer helped them put the tents up, it was great.
There are rows of disabled toilets and disabled shower rooms, they're still porter loos but they do the job and they're always pretty clean. The toilets at Download are the cleanest I've ever seen at a festival. They're not quite so good at Glastonbury but there they have disabled toilets dotted around the site with a code so other people don't use them, you're given the code at the start of the festival with a map of where they are and where the accessible routes are, as you can imagine, Glastonbury is huge and very difficult to get around and there are routes to make things easier for people.
There are also viewing platforms at every festival where you get a great view. All platforms have toilets next to them which cannot be used by other festival goers. Some festivals even provide people who sign along to the music and generally have a good rock out!
You get given maps, if needed, of any access points to take you around the site, this sometimes means going in behind the stages or vip areas 👍, and there are also shuttle buses provided to help too. I've been able to hire off road wheelchairs which were charged up for me overnight, you have to pay extra for this service but it was well worth the money.
There are lots of people around to help, day and night, in case of an emergency. I've never had to use any of the medical services on site but I'm told they're very quick to respond. I always carry copies of my prescription/alert cards with me and tell my friends where they are in case of an emergency so medics know what's wrong with me and what medication I'm taking.
Above all I would say to anyone who attends a festival, disabled or not, is to be prepared, take enough warm clothes, blankets and obviously a poncho or two, it is Britain after all. The most important thing is to have fun, no one cares what you look like and you won't care either when you've had a months worth of rain tipped over you in one day!
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