As a person in a chair, we sit about navel height to everyone else. Thanks legends, you folks go above and beyond as vollies. I went on day two and the nice ambo folks next to it had to fish a cup out of the toilet itself and help me negotiate it. I only went once a day and held on for as long as I could, minimising the need by drinking less so I didn’t have to go more than once. Yeah, not us folks with chairs and wonky legs and dodgy bits, we have to touch all your grot. You ‘ableds’ (abled bodied people) can just squat over the seat, make a splash, leave a cup or two in the loo for extra obstacles, leave some toilet paper strewn around, touch very little and leave. Have a thought for a person with a disability who has to touch everything in the loo to get on the pot so to speak. And because the accessible toilet is so accessible it seems like 4000 able-bodied people use it too, which makes cleanliness a thing. 4000 people can use all the toilets at the festival, but I can use only one namely the accessible toilet. It’s not a barrier, just something to be accommodated. Oh that’s another thing: when things are really loud I can’t make my voice project for people to hear me so I sign. I bought my potato from a food vendor who knew some sign language. I scoped out my workplace for the next day and then I settled in for a day and evening of absolute sheer bliss. They didn’t know what I could do and there is still so much unconscious bias and fear in our world against people with disabilities. And to be brutally honest people are scared to give people with disabilities ago.Įven though I worked in education for 33 years they didn’t know me. I say this in a surprised way because let’s be honest: discrimination is real, it still happens to people with disabilities. I made full disclosure, let the dice roll on my application and hit send.Ī few weeks later I received a reply. I made it clear out of all the jobs they were offering which would be suitable for me to do in my chair. I made it clear on my application that I was a wheelchair-user and disabled. Well not free, but free for doing work, I work for the ticket, a 6-hour shift in-fact. With this in mind when my daughter said she was applying for paid work in the bar at Hay Days I thought, ‘well why not see if I can volunteer?’ I have skills, heck I have a degree and a couple of grad diplomas, I’m smart, I could be useful and then get a bonus ticket for free. I could have paid but there might have been other things I would have to miss out on to compensate. Maybe a result of being an older mum with a younger adult child or just being hip, who knows.įinancially the cost of a ticket to the two-day festival was not going to break the bank but it did mean that I was going to have to cut some of my other activities to attend. I maybe disabled but I’m not dead and I love to get amongst it. Yeah, an old chick like me loves Party in the Paddock the most memorable was seeing Lilly Allen and singing her song ‘F#k You’, with about 4000 other people a few years back. I wanted to go! I am a big fan of Genesis Owusu after seeing him perform at Party in the Paddock 2023. This festival brings together some of the most cutting-edge artists locally, nationally and internationally. I am disabled, I use wheels to get around but that should not in this day and age of anti-discrimination and inclusion stop me from doing everything my heart, energy and pocket desire.Īnd so, it was with this motivation behind me that I applied to be a volunteer at the Hay Days Festival in Hobart. I have a burning desire to be included and to experience as much as I can before I pop the perch.
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