(Disabled) Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Part 1)

[Alt Text] A vertical-aligned poster with a green and orange patterned background. Taped to the poster is a polaroid-style photograph of a crowd of people silhouetted at a gig, with a raised hand in the foreground. At the top of the poster, white text reads “(Disabled) Girls just want to”, and then “Have Fun” is written underneath in pink bubble writing. On the bottom right hand corner of the poster is the Equal Lives logo - Equal Lives is written in blue text, with a tagline written in purple - Free from disabling barriers. There are 3 orange birds flying into the air above the writing.

Music has always been a big part of my life. My first gig was the Pogues, whilst in utero. During my childhood, music and instruments were everywhere at home, and I played piano. My dad and uncle’s band toured Europe and the US. During my teens, I sang in school bands, went to a lot of gigs of all genres and dabbled in music journalism for small publications. In my 20s, I continued to attend gigs, raves and festivals very regularly, made my own music for fun and became a hip hop promoter.

Music is an integral part of who I am. But my ill health put a stop to my reliable capacity to engage with music culture in my late 20s, and for the past decade, I have struggled to see live music like I used to.

Due to an energy-limiting rheumatological condition, I struggle to leave my home and must do constant energy equations to stay functional enough to work part time. For this reason, it is important to me during the warmer months, when my pain and fatigue are slightly more manageable, that I grasp opportunities to enjoy live music.

In addition to the challenges presented by my fluctuating health, the accessibility of venues, the attitudes and knowledge of staff and the behaviour of others in attendance profoundly shape my experience of live music in a way they didn’t used to.

Before I was Disabled, I could just book a ticket and turn up. Now, before I book tickets for an event, I must conduct research to check I can access the venue and must usually provide medical evidence to prove that I am entitled to use the access platform.

Following events, I must reach out to the event organisers to ensure they are aware of the access barriers I encountered, so these barriers are not going to be a problem at future events I want to attend. All of this is additional labour that my non-disabled friends don’t even need to consider, and it does add to an overall sense of alienation from something that is important to me.

This summer, I attended two separate day-festivals locally - let’s call them Festival 1 and Festival 2. I also attended both events last summer, offering a useful comparison of both festival’s accessibility practices.

Festival 1 was a flop

[Alt Text] A vertical-aligned poster with a green and orange patterned background. Taped to the centre of the poster is a large polaroid-style photo showing the backs of three women standing in an outdoor crowd beneath a cloudy sky. Above their heads is rigging for stage lights. They are casually dressed; two of them are wearing crop tops and one is wearing a bucket hat. On the bottom right hand corner of the poster is the Equal Lives logo - Equal Lives is written in blue text, with a tagline written in purple - Free from disabling barriers. There are 3 orange birds flying into the air above the writing.

Both this summer and last, Festival 1 let me down on access in numerous ways.

Last year, the toilet locks were very inaccessible, with chains and a fiddly padlock that had to be unlocked. Festival 1 also had no accessible viewing platforms for the smaller stages. There were viewing platforms, but they were not accessible. I didn’t see a single artist that I’d paid to see – just a load of people’s behinds! I was kettled into a dangerous crowd situation and my amazing friends spent several sets stopping people from tripping over me and falling onto me.

Because I wanted to attend the event again this year after seeing the line-up, I met with the event organisers remotely to discuss my experiences and how they could improve access for the 2025 festival. They seemed eager to receive my feedback and improve the festival.

Sadly, this year, Festival 1 had even more inaccessible toilet locks. I needed help to remove the padlock, so I’m not surprised that all padlocks were missing by the end of the night! Through gatekeeping toilet access so intensely, the ‘accessible’ toilets were made inaccessible to the very people who need to use them.

I was happy to see that Festival 1 had taken my feedback on board, about the need for an accessible viewing platform. However, these platforms were located very far away from the stage, with non-accessible viewing platforms much closer, and obscuring the view!

I watched a set on the smaller stage’s access platform and felt very segregated from my friends. As Disabled people, it often feels like we are not expected to have friends beyond our carer/PA!

The most disappointing aspect of access at Festival 1 this summer was around staffing. I experienced direct discrimination from a member of security staff, who had clearly not received any disability awareness training. She treated me like I was asking for special treatment wanting to be served at the lowered bar. She made it very clear that she thought access accommodations are subject to her whims, rather than a legal obligation in place to mitigate the pervasive access barriers that Disabled people encounter everywhere.  

Additionally, a security guard aggressively gatekept access to an accessible viewing platform. A young woman wearing a sunflower lanyard, representing invisible disability, was forced off the platform before I could get the security guard’s attention to explain what she was showing him.

Festival 1 let me down on many fronts, and when I fed this back to the organisers, they didn’t seem able to assure me that these issues would be resolved by next year. It sometimes feels like event organisers and business owners think I’m telling them about my experiences to moan, but the reality is, I want to know that I can attend in future and not feel trepidation about numerous aspects of the experience. I want to know that my experience of the event will not be wildly different to that of my friends. Festival 2 offered an entirely different experience but was not without weird moments.

Part two of ‘(Disabled) Girls Just Want to Have Fun' coming soon…

Written by Arianne at Equal Lives