In the last month, I’ve kept a tally on my phone of the amount of visibly physically disabled people I’ve seen out and about in bars, cafes, tube stations, restaurants, clubs and gigs. My count came to a staggering 9. In a month. fucking NINE?! Are you kidding me? and believe me, I had my eyes peeled.
Access in this country is absolutely buggered. beyond embarrassing. Wembley, one of our more developed and modern establishments in the UK, has 90,000 seats, out of which a THIRD of ONE PERCENT are disabled access friendly. Cool. Slow clap the government for deliberately failing to meet the basic human rights of 11.8 million people in the UK. The social stigma that follows people with disabilities, the awkwardness, the ignorance, all lies in a lack of confrontation of what disability is. We don’t see it on nights out, or amongst us at gigs. We don’t really witness it on the underground or in our favourite restaurants. So we never need to really face the reality of certain people’s situations. So therefore we never learn how to actually deal with it. We don’t get that opportunity to see, they are just people. People who are different, but who have the same feelings, loves, desires and social cravings as the rest of the world. Not too long ago, Caucasian people were very awkward around black people. Even the ones who weren’t racist, didn’t know how to communicate with them, because they were segregated from each other. There were few opportunities to break the social barrier and just learn to get along.
Britain’s way of dealing with disability is just to try and pretend its not happening. A swift sweep under the carpet. Sure we televised the paralympics, and we had the show The Undateables…. and that’s a positive step forward I supppose, but it’s still making the disability factor the centre of the matter. It’s predominantly disabled people lumped together rather than existing alongside other people without disabilities. Also, it hasn’t changed much. After the paraympics, it felt like a revolution was coming, that people with disabilities were empowered and important, and their needs were going to be met. FUCK ALL of this happened, and Britain avoided eye contact and went about its day.
Imagine going through your teens, or even your whole life, without ever getting to see live music properly. In the rare case you do manage to get one of the 7 tickets most venues have allocated for disabled people, you’re most likely at the very back, or on a platform on the side, separated from your mates. craning your neck to see your favourite artist. This sounds shit doesn’t it? So I decided, if nobody else was going to, I was going to start a company here I get A list artists to perform for me at fully accessible gigs, where people with all disabilities can sit at the front, amongst their friends and family. Where deaf and blind people will be able to feel the music using our incredible Subpac technology. These gigs are open to all people, as we are trying to ensure that integration occurs, but our members with disabilities get served first, to make sure they finally get a chance at enjoying live music as a young person should.
It’s damaging to a person’s happiness and therefore life, to be denied a social life. It’s so unfair and embarrassing on our part to have left it this long to realise that we need more than just ONE fucking disabled FUCKING toilet in a whole venue. What message does it send? It says, “we cannot be remotely arsed to accommodate you, so stay at home mate.” I’ve had venues tell me that “We don’t have access because we don’t have enough disabled clientele to justify reparation costs…” Are you kidding me? Are you pulling my leg? If they can’t get in to your establishment, how are you supposed to gage your clientele?
It’s negligence, it’s carelessness, it’s greed and it’s discrimination. And I’m done with it. On July 1st, I will host a gig that puts on comedy and music as the launch of WHY NOT PEOPLE, a completely accessible company that remembers and accommodates the forgotten. At my gigs you will be included, comfortable and treated like an equal. Hopefully society might follow suit.
For the first gig we have amazing performances from Tinie Tempah, Aluna George, Romesh Ragnathan, Flawless, to name a few. Come join me, and let’s show the world what it’s supposed to look like. Head to www.whynotpeople.com to read more about this company, and get tickets.
If you want something done, you have to do it yourself. So I’m bloody well doing it, but I’m going to need your support.
I hope that one day when I’m attending a gig, or doing a gig even, that I look out into the crowd and see a proper representation of the world I live in. I hope that artists all stand by me in the name of equality for their fans. I hope venues take notice of what we do and work with us to create a more accessible social scene. I hope our stigmas and awkwardness around something so minor as a mere different ability, can disintegrate once we realise there is no pity needed, no altered behaviour required. We are all just people. We are all so different. It allows us to learn from each other and to be individuals
What is everyone so afraid of?
I hope to see you at The Troxy in Limehouse on July 1st.
Head to www.whynotpeople.com
Lots of love and sorry about my swearing… again…
