top of page

ACCESSIBILITY AT CONCERTS

Disabled fans have as much of a right to enjoy live music as anyone else, but often there are so many barriers facing disabled music fans that prevents this from happening. It would be impossible to cover every issue in one article, but here are some ways venues are inaccessible that non-disabled music lovers may not see. 


Barrier one comes from just buying tickets. Accessible ticket queues can be upwards of four hours, and still sometimes require authentication to be purchased. Other times, they may not even be available online, having to phone a venue to get tickets. This, for a fan with a hearing impairment, stammer, anxiety or even other reasons, can be completely put off purchasing a ticket. Sometimes finding out this information is a challenge in itself- as its not always clear on a concert website. 


Some venues will allow for a free ticket for a carer or assistant, which is a good step but for some this doesn't do anything, as you will often have to prove PIP (Personal Independence Payments)- which can be extremely hard to get for those with chronic or invisible illnesses. This also prevents groups staying together, as only one person can generally stay with the disabled friend, which can prevent them wanting to go in the first place- feeling like a burden to others, or not wanting to be separated from their friends. 


An issue that I am personally aware of, through attending these gigs with friends with accessibility issues, is the lack of awareness or sometimes care from venue staff. There are staff that go above and beyond to cater to disabled attendees, bringing drinks and checking throughout the evening, but then there are the others. They handle wheelchairs with minimal attention, even sometimes hitting others with it through a lack of care, when taking people to the accessible entrance (Which by the way, is not always as accessible as a venue think it is). 


Writing this as someone who is not disabled, but is aware of some of the issues, I can openly admit I have not always educated myself on this topic as much as I should have, or until I needed to. However, what I do now see, is the issue that venues are not paying attention to the needs of their disabled customers or doing enough to provide genuine assistance. 


This was written to be assessed as part of my Journalism course. This was in Semester 2 of Level 6 and was for the Undergraduate Major Project, where I created a (primarily) music magazine, aimed at Gen Z. Below is the page design for this article.



Comments


Let the posts
come to you.

Thanks for submitting!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
Contact Me

Thanks for submitting!

© 2023 by Media by Molly. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page