There is a petition doing the rounds, complaining that a wheelchair user cannot be seated with their family at the Paralympics because at the time they tried to book, the only available seating was a wheelchair bay next to a single seat. Several people have sent me the petition, assuming that as a disabled person myself, I would agree with and sign it. In fact, I think it is spurious to produce this complaint just two weeks before the event, and that if you want to campaign, there is a better time and reason to do so…

Why this campaign is badly timed

Tickets for the Paralympics went on sale a year ago. At the time I, as a wheelchair user, was told that every effort is made to keep wheelchair users with their friends. But with only two weeks to go, trying to buy tickets and finding there isn’t a space where your whole family can be accommodated around you is hardly a surprise. The time to complain – if it was relevant – was a year ago.

The tickets have been sold. The Paralympics will be set up for the seating that has already been purchased. They won’t change their set up at a fortnight’s notice!

A wider campaign?

I attended the Olympics and at both the venues I found that wheelchair bays were next to a seat for your PA (assistant), and so it repeated: bay, seat, bay, seat. This is ideal for couples or single wheelchair users who may or may not have a PA, and a free PA ticket was included with every ticket for a wheelchair user.

This is also the way it works at Wembley normally, at many gigs and festivals. If complaining that you can only take one person with you and not your whole family, why not make it a wider campaign, to tackle the policy in general?

Provision for disabled people is always limited (as are regular tickets – there’s no infinite supply) and so space is at a premium. Sports grounds and venues have a set number of spaces for wheelchair users. Festivals will build viewing platforms to accommodate the tickets they have sold to disabled people. Although I think most events have the balance of accessible seating right, because wheelchair spaces are usually last to sell out when the normal tickets are all gone, I have still experienced a crush on a viewing platform, where there wasn’t even space for my PA, only for wheelchair users themselves. So actually, I would rather that you could not bring your family onto the viewing platform or into the wheelchair spaces. Your children could be denying a ticket to a needy wheelchair user who could have used it instead.

So what’s the solution?

When I attended the Oval last year, I was allocated a wheelchair bay and a seat next to it for my PA. My friends were accommodated in the row immediately behind us, so that they didn’t take up any wheelchair spaces, but we could still chat together when we wanted. Many venues will sell tickets in the row immediately in front or behind for the rest of your friends or family, so you can still be near each other and pass around the sandwiches. This is ideal – everyone together, with no abuse of a wheelchair space by an able bodied friend. If the venue you’re visiting won’t offer this option, that is the time to complain – and campaign.