Disability advocates call for more nightlife venues to accommodate needs

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Advocates say more venues like bars and nightclubs need to accommodate the needs of the 1 in 5 Australians who live with disability. For many, planning a night out poses frustrating challenges.

Transcript

00:00Look, there's lots of challenges for people living with disability in planning a night

00:06out.

00:07One thing, speaking with Elisa, she's a wheelchair user here in South Australia.

00:12One thing was access, first of all, to a lot of places.

00:16A lot of places have steps on entry, or if they don't have steps in their entryway, they

00:21have steps to the bathroom.

00:22So going to a venue, the bathroom's not fully accessible, and so she has to leave different

00:27places.

00:29Roughly around only 40% of nightlife and clubs and bars in Adelaide are wheelchair accessible.

00:37And Elisa says of that 40% that say they are, sometimes she goes to places and she can't

00:44get in, and the information online is mismatched with what's actually going on at the venue

00:50itself.

00:51So accessibility in terms of information that's freely available online, Elisa wants better

00:58access to that information.

01:00The South Australian government introduced an app called Pavely, which kind of highlights

01:05the accessibility of each venues, but there's been struggles to take that app up.

01:12Elisa hadn't heard of it, and a lot of the venues on there require reviews from the public

01:19in order to be able to see what's accessible.

01:23So I chatted to Elisa for this story, as well as Lily Durkin, who lives with disability,

01:27about some of their experiences.

01:29You're 20, you're in your 20s, you want to be able to go out, it's like such an amazing

01:35time of your life.

01:36You know, I'm in my 20s at the moment, and you know, I want nothing more to be able to

01:40just go out to a bar, to a restaurant with my mates, and not have to think about access.

01:45You shouldn't have to think about that as a young person, when you're just trying to

01:49have a good time, have a few drinks, have a little boogie.

01:53You know, you don't want to have to think about whether you're going to be able to use

01:55the bathroom or have to go home.

01:57Oh, I get bored, absolutely, of the same places.

02:01As much as they're nice, you don't want to be getting the same food all the time.

02:06You want to try new things.

02:08It says they're accessible, you get there, and it's just this little corner away from

02:13all the action.

02:16There's a lot of recommendations that Lily was saying.

02:20The big one is, for venues, updating your accessibility information, whether that be

02:25on your website or on your social media.

02:28That's a really simple and easy solution that venues themselves can do.

02:34It's just a matter of making a post on your Instagram page or making it really accessible

02:39on your website.

02:40The other thing is little things, like are the lights in your venue dimmable?

02:45Can you turn lights down for sensory issues?

02:47In the toilets, one, are the toilets accessible?

02:50Two, do the toilets have hand dryers and hand towels for people with sensory issues?

02:56The other thing Elisa was talking about is ramps to venues.

03:00Ramps can be bought, portable ramps.

03:03They make them in all shapes and sizes, and it just takes away that hassle of actually

03:08getting into the venue.

03:10Lily actually called on the South Australian Government to make some changes in order to

03:16bring in some grants to help venues out with these changes.

03:20It can be really hard for venues to close down for periods of time to make accessibility

03:25changes, so that's where she wants to see the government step in and provide some grants,

03:31make it easier for venues to make these changes, and so it's easier for the one in five Australians

03:38living with disability to just access all of these venues and live their lives.

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