Working in partnership with Creative Scotland and its counterparts elsewhere in the UK, arts access scheme All In has appointed the charity Attitude is Everything, an organisation led by disabled people, to oversee the creation of new minimum standards for creative and cultural events. With a 24-year track record, the group specialises in working with venues and promoters to break down the barriers to full participation while supporting D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent creative professionals.
There are some very good examples of inclusive event planning in Scotland. The Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF), which will hold its sixth edition this October, ensures that all its screenings are wheelchair accessible, provides subtitling and live captioning, and works with attendees to help them find solutions to more complex problems. The Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) pioneered autism-friendly screenings – where the volume is lower, the lights stay on at a low level and people are free to move around – as well as screenings designed to offer support for people with dementia. These highly successful models have been picked up by organisations elsewhere.
Disability access to events is unpredictable
Nevertheless, attending a live event as a disabled person is often a bit of a lottery. As an ambulant disabled person, before my muscle wasting disease made me reliant on a wheelchair but after it had made standing painful and exhausting, I was given my own table at a Thomas Truax gig in Mono, elevated above the crowd so I could see the stage. At a Carter USM gig in the Barrowlands, however, I was left clinging to a railing at the back, denied access to seating because “It’s only for people who need medical attention.” It helps to raise the issue ahead of time, but one can still never be sure what to expect on the day – and of course, there’s also the problem of encountering staff who are straight-out hostile. To be disabled, D/deaf or neurodivergent is to be perceived, by some people, as a problem unfairly landed on them personally, not as a part of the community.
To add to this, there’s the problem of lack of information. I once called the Scottish Government out on this in relation to an event it was organising, and got a nice letter back assuring me that everything would ‘of course’ be accessible. This was well-intentioned but missed the point – what they needed to do was add that information to their promotional materials because it was highly unlikely that I would be the only disabled person who would see them. It also highlights a problem with many well-intentioned people out there – because they habitually make the effort to be inclusive, they forget that there are other people who don’t.
The work being done by Attitude is Everything has four initial points of focus:
- Improving the built environment in and around venues including removing physical obstacles and providing better access.
- Making digital communication with disabled audiences more accessible, usable and inclusive.
- Working with customer services so that venues and events give a warm welcome to everyone.
- Building in access to commissions, events and programming at the ideas, budgeting and development stages.
One of the first things you’re likely to notice about this is that it doesn’t need to cost a lot of money. Most of what needs to be done really is about changing attitudes and increasing awareness. That doesn’t mean that the solutions are always simple. Sometimes disabled people have clashing needs – for instance, it can be impossible to include someone who makes unpredictable noises at the same event as someone with severe PTSD – but it’s a lot easier to accept occasionally missing out than to find oneself excluded as a matter of routine.
Does Scotland need a Disabilities Commissioner?
In the same week as this announcement was made, Conservative MSP Jeremy Balfour brought forward a bill at Holyrood calling for the creation of a Disabilities Commissioner for Scotland. Many of the proposed commissioner’s tasks – reviewing law, policy and practice, and carrying out research – are already supposed to be taken care of, as they’re within the remit of the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC). In practice, however, the considerable burden of work on that organisation, and its limited resources, mean that disabled people often lack meaningful support at that level. By way of example, Balfour has highlighted a recent access issue: the Scottish Government’s decision to cut £10mn of funding from the Changing Places toilet adaptation scheme. Lack of toilets where there is room to change a disabled adult with poor bowel control means that such people often find themselves unable to go far from their own homes, and unable to attend any kind of live event. A commissioner could formally challenge that decision.
While some people may raise eyebrows at a Conservative politician coming forward now to complain about cuts affecting disabled people, the fact is that for many, access remains a huge issue across multiple areas of life. The Attitude is Everything appointment is a step in the right direction, and means that D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent Scots may be able to look forward to much richer lives – as well as ones in which it will be easier for them to contribute their own talents to Scotland’s lively cultural scene.
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