Accessing Summer Fun

The warmth of the summer weather lends itself well to enjoying outdoor festivities. From block parties to fairs and festivals, spending time outside during the summer is packed with fun. Everyone loves to get out, but not every event set up to allow everyone to attend.

Each year outdoor event organizers miss out on 10-20 percent of their potential income when people with physical disabilities cannot attend due to barriers or poor planning. Anyone who uses a wheelchair to get around, has limited walking range, cannot stand for long periods of time, or other physical limitations are left out of many fun summertime activities.

Over the last two summers, I have been checking out many events to find ways to maximize attendance for all. The events included: Celebrate De Pere, Country USA, Lifest, firework celebrations, Summerfest, county and state fairs, EAA, drive-in movies, Timber Rattlers, and more. Let’s take a look at ways to increase income and make for a more enjoyable experience for all.

On What Grounds Do You Stand?
Many festivals will usually have a combination of grass, gravel, and cement areas that make up their grounds. Some things to keep in mind for many is gravel areas are probably the worse to have. Gravel during a really dry summer can be very dusty for all. Conversely during a really wet summer it can be very muddy.

Grass is good during drier times, even though it might turn brown a bit. The best grass to have is short grass. Longer grass requires much more strength to push through in a wheelchair. Cement, while a very hard and sometimes very warm surface, does not kick up dust and usually allows water to run off of it easily.

The major thing to avoid is hills. Celebrate De Pere is held at Voyager Park every year. This park has steep hills all around it which make it a very difficult place to get around. The concerts are usually down in the middle, while all the restrooms and porta potties are up on the hills. If the venue cannot change, relocating certain things and also finding volunteers to help people in need would make it a better experience.

No Need To Flush This Subject
Speaking of the need for a bathroom. This is probably the most overlooked area. Yes, many of the venues have handicapped porta potties. But placement and access are another story. July 2007, at the Green Bay fireworks celebration, porta potties were put in several locations. One location was the Holiday Inn downtown parking lot. This parking lot has a cement curb on three sides. So one might think you could come in from the open end, right? Wrong. Holiday Inn put barricades and a line wire across the fourth side of the parking lot so no one in a wheelchair could get to the accessible porta potty. After alerting hotel services, the barricades were removed two hours later.

Another venue I had visited put a porta potty on grass, but right next to a rocky path. The door would get stuck on the rocks when it opened or closed, plus small wheels of strollers or wheelchairs would get stuck as well.

Placement of porta potties was also difficult in that they were a long way from the main areas, especially for individuals like myself that cannot walk for great distances without getting tired. At Country USA, Lifest, and a few other places, the main stage area would be set and the porta potties would be 50-75 yards away. Yet, with proper planning, I saw ways they could place some porta potties closer without compromise to the stage or sightlines.

The design of handicap porta potties is fairly new. It is a wider and deeper design than the standard, as well as having no lip to step up to. This makes them easy to enter with a wheelchair. Some actually have the wheelchair logo on the outside, but many do not. This leads many to believe that anyone can use them. Which means a long line behind all the porta potties and leaving people with physical disabilities in a very uncomfortable position.

What I’ve noticed from many of the venues, including county fairs, is that they do not consult with or have a person with a disability on their board of directors. As an advocate, I see this as a weakness because they are not taking into consideration the 10-20 percent of the population who could attend their events.

This is what someone sitting down would see of a stage. This is not line of sight seating for people with disabilities.

Bring On The Show
Listening to your favorite artists on the radio is great, but to be able to go to a concert indoors or out and see them in person is awesome. Triple bonus points, if you get a chance to meet them.

A news story out of New York tells of a different star experience. Francesco Clark, 28, had front row tickets to a Madonna concert thanks to a fellow employee at Harper’s Bazaar. You would think, for a guy who recently had a car accident that left him a quadriplegic, that being in the front row would be the best. Wrong again.

When the show started, the crowd rushed forward and his wheelchair was nearly knocked over. “He couldn’t see anything because people were all standing around him,” writer Elisa Lipsky-Karasz said. “He tried to move to the front, but no one would budge, and nobody cared. Then the security guard came over and was being rude and told him to move.”

Fortunately for Clark, Leonardo DiCaprio saw what was going on. DiCaprio came over and said, “Why don’t you come sit with me and I’ll just move over?” DiCaprio was sitting at the end of the catwalk in front of a no-standing zone.

How does having a front row ticket and then having a security guard ask you to move equal a good time? Thankfully Clark was able to enjoy the rest of the Madonna concert and meet Leonardo DiCaprio.

If you’ve been to any outdoor event with a concert, most people end up standing and dancing and enjoying themselves. Most venues also have no place reserved for people with disabilities who cannot stand and see over the crowd. Summerfest in Milwaukee is an exception with a great layout others should look at. At each of their stages, they have a raised platform with a ramp for people who use wheelchairs and their guests. With the platforms, it allows someone sitting down to look over the standing crowd to see the stage.

Country USA had a different layout. They had a section off to the side of the stage next to the reserved seating so you could see the stage and no one was standing in front of you. Unfortunately the space was too small and quickly filled up. Unless you’re a short person or someone who has a need to sit down, line of sight doesn’t mean a lot. Ever sit behind someone in a ten-gallon hat in a movie theater before? The same applies for people who use a wheelchair. It makes for a bad experience and is why many venues are losing out on income because many just don’t go.

The last venue I want to include in the layout design is the Brown County Fair. The events over the last few years have brought big named and up-and-coming country artists to the area. The last two years, I have gone to the fair office and asked about handicapped seating; each year they say next year they will include it. I went to pick up some tickets for this years event and again they had not planned an area for people with physical disabilities.

After speaking with someone, I shared with her how easy it would be to have a section available.As of yet, they have not fixed this problem.

Positive Effects When Everyone Is Included
Lifest is an event, which my roommate and I have been to for the past four years. It has great Christian music and we’ve met many great people each year including founder, Bob Lenz. One thing that they have that many other outdoor events lack is what is called a handy-rover. The festival grounds are large and so people with physical disabilities can ask a security person or at the information booth for the handy-rover to take them anywhere on the grounds.

This comes in handy, when you have multiple stages around the grounds that you want to hear your favorite music at. EAA also has transports around their massive grounds and for a nominal price you can rent a stroller or wheelchair. But reserve it early, they go fast. Country USA, who has used the same grounds as Lifest, does not have such a service, but if you ask very nicely, sometimes they can arrange a lift. Lifest and a few other events also have sign language interpreters available if needed.

My roommate and I have also visited the Field Of Scenes Drive-In, in Freedom, Wisconsin. This mom and pop run business is very accessible and if you have any problems the owners are right there to help you out.

Making The Grade For Excellent Customer Service

The bottom line for these events is profit. Yet, when simple things are not taken into consideration potential income is lost. Of the people with disabilities I spoke with this summer, many enjoy going to concerts and sitting under the stars. Others said they wished the venues were more accessible. They would like to go out more.

Now is the time to plan for an all inclusive, all exciting, and greater revenue earning event.

Copyright 2009, Disabilities Unlimited, Bill Mickltz

Tips For A Successful and Inclusive Event

• Have the grass of your site freshly cut for better traction.
• Avoid using gravel areas, if at all possible.
• Have a venue site with gentle slopes instead of hills.
• Hire staff or get volunteers to be available for people with physical disabilities.
• Place handicap porta-potties close to the main stage or main areas on the grounds.
• Clearly mark handicap porta potties for their intended purpose.
• To better gauge how many people with physical disabilities attend events have another ticket category: General, reserved, and disability seating for example. People with disabilities will know you are accessible and what to expect when they get to the grounds. Event planners will know what services would be needed.
• Have an area for people with physical disabilities with a clear line of sight to the stage.
• Consult with a disabilities advocate to make your event a success.
• Include a person with a disability on your event planning committee.
• And in the case of Mr. Clark, it would be in your best interests (legally as well as customer service wise) to hire security guards with a bit more sensitivity.