Making events more accessible

Pride should be for everyone in the community. Wellington Pride Festival would like all Pride events to be as accessible as possible, which is why we’re providing this guide.

Statistics tell us that 1 in 3 members of the Rainbow community are disabled, compared to 1 in 4 in heterosexual communities. If you want to drill down on that further, for the Identify Survey in December 2022, 42% of participants identified as disabled. 

If you’re already a member of a marginalised community, it can feel even worse when even that community doesn’t try to accommodate you. 

We understand that you’re likely to be working with extremely limited budgets and limited spaces. This is why we’re emphasising the importance of providing as much information as possible about your event in advance, so that disabled people can make informed choices for themselves about your event.

In this guide:

Accessible event promotion

Accessibility starts long before your actual event. Here are some things to consider in your marketing:

  • Does the text on your images/posters etc have strong enough colour contrast with the background? Here’s a free tool to check colour contrasts.

  • Is the language simple enough for someone with an average reading age of 12?

  • Caption your videos! This helps not only Deaf and hard of hearing people, but also neurodivergent people, those with English as a second language, people in loud offices, people watching your content with the sound off… accessibility helps everyone.   

    • If you’re putting videos on Facebook or YouTube, closed captions (which are in a separate srt file) are better than burned-on captions. YouTube can automatically create captions for your video, but it’s always a good idea to go through the captions and make sure there’s nothing weird in there, especially if you are using te reo Māori.

    • Videos on TikTok and Instagram don’t have an option for separate caption files, so please use burned-on captions. Again, these apps can generate captions for you, but these should still be checked and edited.

  • If your venue is not well known or hard to find, can you provide photos and a description of the entrance/location?

  • Will you provide free companion tickets for those who need someone to come with them?

  • Have an “Accessibility” section on your event information website so that people can get most of the information they need in one place (as outlined before), and provide a friendly invitation for people to contact you for further questions. Here’s a sample of what accessibility information might look like based on this fat swim event:

“Tell me about accessibility”:

- Unfortunately the pool is not as accessible as Karori Pool where we have had swims in the past. 

- The Aquadome is at the very back of Wellington East Girls College, so it is a bit of a hike up a hill from the gate. 

- There is plenty of parking available on the netball courts and by the pool entrance

- We will put mobility stairs in the water to assist with getting in and out, and are happy to lend a hand as well if you need it. The pool is not wheelchair accessible, unfortunately. 

- If you're disabled and need to bring a companion, of course their ticket is free.

- There are male & female changing areas as well as gender neutral toilets - please feel free to use the space that best works for you, and please respect other people's decisions. 

- We will probably be playing pop music. Please contact us in advance if this would make the event inaccessible for you.

- If you don't have togs, feel free to swim in whatever is most comfortable for you.

- While we will do our absolute best to make sure there's still safe amounts of lighting in the Gentle Glow Hour, if you have low vision in dim light, please get in touch to see how we can make this work for you. 

- Everyone is required to take a RAT before attending, because community looks after each other. 

Physical access for those with mobility requirements

Disabled people should be able to enter venues through the front door like everyone else without needing to ask for help or give up any dignity.

While we continue to fight for that and should demand it in every new building, providing information about what we actually have available is essential.

Consider the following:

  • Is there parking available? Public transport?

  • What is the area like around the venue? Is it up a big hill? Is it down a muddy path? 

  •  Are there steps to access the venue? Are there steps inside the venue?

  • If someone in a wheelchair needs to enter the venue through a different entrance, who should they contact?

  • Does the venue have wide paths inside it for wheelchairs/strollers/people with low vision/people of size to navigate? 

  • Is there space to store mobility equipment near seating? 

  • Is there space for people in wheelchairs to have their friends sit with them? 

  • Are the bathrooms accessible? Are they actually accessible to someone in a wheelchair, or are they stacked with stock and/or a baby-changing table?

  • If your event is outside, what kind of surface is it on?

Seating at your event

Everybody has a different body, but unfortunately, society has not kept that in mind when designing seats!

  • Is seating available at the venue? Is seating limited? Can those with limited mobility book a seat in advance?

  • What kind of seating is available? Are they high stools? Do they have backs?

  • What size are the seats? What is their weight capacity? Is there a way for people of size to reserve something more sturdy than a plastic folding chair so they can be safe?

Hearing/visual accommodations

  • Will all speakers use microphones?

  • Can members of the audience access microphones, too, if they’re asking questions?

  • Is there a hearing loop provided in the theatre and if so will that be activated?

  • Is there an option for those who are hard of hearing to sit closer to speakers or for those who need to lip-read to be given appropriate seats?

  • Could an NZSL interpreter be provided for the event if required? Find out more information about booking interpreters.

  • Is someone available to guide those with visual impairments to their seats? 

  • Is there a provision for audio descriptions? 

  • For assistance dogs: is there a place their handlers can take them to the bathroom, are there facilities to provide them with water, space for them to lie down under tables/seats?

  • What are the acoustics of the space like? Will there be a lot of background noise? Will loud music be played? 

Sensory accommodations

  • What kind of lighting will be used at your event? Some people, for example, have a problem with fluorescent lights, and others need to know if strobes will be used.

  • Will smoke machines be used?

  • Will a quiet space be available for those who may need to chill out?

Bathrooms

  • As discussed already, are there truly accessible bathrooms available?

  •  Are there gender-neutral bathrooms available?

  • Could you quite easily convert them to all gender bathrooms with a piece of paper and a pen for the duration of your event by labeling them with what’s inside - for example “urinals” and “sanitary bins”  

  • Are there baby-changing facilities nearby for family events? 

Children

While an event held in an R18 bar may be pretty clear about being a child-free space, other events may have opportunities to allow parents to attend even if the event itself is not specifically family-friendly – for example, workshops or talks.

Making it clear that babies are welcome – and pointing out spaces for breastfeeding, baby change tables or a crying room – is one way to allow more members of the community to attend without having to worry about the cost of childcare.

Safer COVID practices

It’s very important to stress that the pandemic is not over – just the government-mandated protections from a disease that continues to kill and disable New Zealanders every day.

Providing information about what you’re doing for COVID-19 mitigations allows immunocompromised people and those who love them to make the right choices for them.

Lowering the risk for your event could involve combining any and all of these things:

  • Asking people to take a RAT before attending (you could even bulk order tests to be done at the door)

  • Asking people to wear masks

  • Encouraging mask-wearing by handing them out at the door, making it clear in your marketing that it’s a cool thing to do, and possibly even awarding prizes for the best mask.

  • Holding the event outside

  • Ventilating space as well as possible inside. CO2 monitors can be borrowed from the library if you want to ensure you’re keeping in that under 800PPM safer air turnover. Ask your venue if they know what their air turnover is like and give that information to the public. For example, 2/57’s air system turns over as if there were always 250 people in the space, even if events are much smaller, and they have large vents to the outside on three of their walls.

  • Running air purifiers during the event

  • Offering refunds for anyone with a positive COVID test (or COVID in their household) to make sure they stay home.

  • Encourage people to stay home if they’re sick. 

Other things to consider

  • Be really careful about your language – if you’re describing your event as for “everyone” or for “all” then it really needs to have all these accommodations taken into consideration. Otherwise, just don’t use absolute words and you are gold.  

  • Disabled people have fought to be included for a long, long time, and are really sick of not being considered. This doesn’t mean that they should be outright rude to you when asking about accessibility at your events, but if their questions stir up feelings in you, maybe think about why that is instead of trying to tone-police them. 

  • People don’t owe you an explanation of their disability or any information about their bodies. Asking: “would one of these metal stools work for you?” is absolutely fine but asking, “why don’t your legs work properly?” is absolutely not.  

  • If you've said people can get in touch to discuss how their access needs can be accommodated, make sure you’re actually willing to have a conversation, and change aspects of the event if you can. 

Where to go for more information

This guide is intended to be a starting point only, not a definitive list of every access issue ever. 

For your first discussion about your event’s accessibility, feel free to get in contact with joanna@wellingtonpride.com. She may not have all the answers for you but can try to get them!