The Proud Place

We visited the proud place for the first time this weekend. Usually going to a new place involves hours of me researching the location online, in reviews and on Google street maps. This time was different.  When ai looked at the information for the event we planned on attending it included a section about accessibility as part of the main information sheet. Not hidden in a menu or drop down part of the screen, actually clear for all to see with the date and time for the event. I was able to confidently mention this event to my family knowing for certain that we would be able to access it. No questions asked. 

Such a refreshing approach. 

Despite this, on the day I was nervous. That is based on previous experiences elsewhere though. The old 'yes, we are fully wheelchair accessible, we just have two steps to get in' or ' oh, it shouldn't have listed us as accessible' was on my mind.

We arrived in the rain, parked in a nearby disabled bay and found the whole place easily accessible. The front door was a bit tricky with It being automatic but also on a buzzer intercom system but once we were through that it was all open plan, easy to get around and people were very accommodating. 

When there was a breakaway meeting I chose to attend in a smaller space I panicked about not fitting in the room. A volunteer simply moved chairs and steps out of the way to make space for my chair. I didn't even have to ask.

When they came around taking food orders (which we didn't even know happened) they had a gluten free vegan option available. We told them our extra needs with food and all were no problem, easily accommodated. We were actually able to eat food that other people were eating, at the same time and in the same place. That really blew my mind. I thanked the kitchen volunteers and told them how rare that was and their answer was simply that they try to be as inclusive as possible with food. 

If you have a transgender person in your life I whole heartedly recommend the proud place to you and to them. Look them up.

(No photos due to people's personal choice and because unfortunately transpobes choose to exist)

 

Winter Wonderland

We promised our son a trip to winter wonderland this winter and fulfilled this promise at the start of the new year, a couple of days before the fair closes. 

We were able to park on double yellow lines outside the fair using our blue badges and get our wheelchairs to the entrance. For some reason Winfer Wonderland was all set up on a platform this year so our first obstacle was the entrance itself, a sheer step up which took two run up attemps in my electric wheelchair and a lot of heaving for the manual chair. The bouncers offered to help me but there wasn't anything they could realistically have done without a ramp being present.

Once inside we wandered around, past the fire pit and food stands, past the ticket booth and bar and down another step to the rides. My son wanted to go in the fun house and see what else was suitable. My son chose three rides to go on and with the way the tokens were priced it was cheaper to buy enough tokens for 4 rides rather than just 3. This meant two goes on the favourite ride...the fun house. Luckily my son can still stand and walk just enough to be able to manage the fun house with a break afterwards and before. I hope that will be the case for years to come but honestly I don't know. 

The last ride of the three was a wild  choice, a bouncing and spinning ride that went very fast forwards and backwards. Very unlike my son to go on  something like that but off P went. Watching the ride was torturous, I filmed it all, knowing P probably wouldn't go in it again. At the end I asked if P was OK with thumbs up and got thumbs down as a response. Not ok. Thankfully P was alright, just a bit shaky and unsteady but not sick. 

In between the rides we toasted some marshmallows, bought candy floss, had a hot drink and shared some chips too. The second fun house trip allowed time for that to all go down a bit. I offered ice skating as an option but P didn't fancy it that day so we will go to the ice rink one day instead.

Getting down the step to exit the fair was terrifying, my chair tipping down and forwards on its way down.