Access Champion

  My 3rd access review is of a communication we had with a London Hotel.   My parents and I stayed at the strand Palace hotel London when I was a teenager. We enjoyed the convenience of the central location to Covent garden and the west end.  All I remember about the hotel is that it was absolutely boiling hot and the windows wouldn't open so none of us slept. The room must have been accessible because I used a wheelchair then.  Pre-pandemic, my mum and I travelled down to London 2 or 3 times a year to attend medical events, charity fundraisers and catch up with friends and go to the theatre.  Lately, we've been missing the bright light of the big city . After reading that the strand palace has recently been refurbished, we made enquiries about their accessible rooms.  As you can see below, the reply is disappointing.  I sincerely hope the owners are reading this as I want to let them know just how angry I am.  At some point during each of our liv...

 Laughter is the best medicine. My second access champion reiew which follows on from my last, well, first (the ATG one).  It’s of the show ATG made it impossible for me, a disabled person, to book.  First of all, I must say a huge thank you to Adam Kay and Seabright Productions and the Liverpool Empire for making sure we got our tickets.  For those of you who don't know, Adam Kay is a doctor turned comedian.  I have read 3 of his books and highly recommend them. I laughed a lot, learnt a lot and even cried a little. What I like about Adam, is that he answered his tweets. Many in his position, don't bother.  With the covid situation we had to download the NHS app with our  double vaccination dates, proof that we're covid free ( that was a bizarre experience, made me think of the ancient Egyptians and their mumification process). My mum observed that some of the audience didn't wear a mask. This encouraged my mum and I to keep ours on. On his Twitter, A...

 My first survey will be about the online experience of ATG tickets. I love going to the theatre and have really missed it whilst shielding. In 2020, I had to cancel many tickets that I had booked so you can imagine how much I have been eagerly anticipating what to add to my ‘to see‘ list.   Many theatres use ATG to sell their tickets. However, the ATG booking  system is not accessible.  - ATG fault 1 On the website, when you go to view the seating plan, the wheelchair space is not listed.    As you can see, the above photo, does not describe where the wheelchair  space is.  - ATG fault 2 In addition to the website not listing the wheelchair spaces, it also does not inform potential paying customers when, or even if there is an audio-described performance (for blind and visually impaired people), the signed performance (for deaf and hard of hearing people) and the autism friendly performances. Those of us needing these requirements are told t...

Hello the access champion is here. I have been an access champion in the past and I’m hoping to re-establish the role and using my experiences of being a Visually impaired, wheelchair user who has aphasia. As the world opens up again, I thought I’d blog about how I have found it, as a disabled person. I look forward to assessing the physical access, the online experience and most importantly, the friendliness and general atmosphere. I'll praise when necessary and suggest improvements in the hope that something will change and it'll help other disabled people.