Arts Access Card Delay Continues Confusion for Disabled Theatregoers

Disabled theatre goers will be all too aware of just how challenging and confusing it can be to buy accessible tickets for arts events such as theatre and concerts.

The availability and price of such tickets varies greatly from venue to venue, with each place also having its own procedures for being added to an access list. This means disabled people like myself often have to repeat our needs to every venue we want to book with, as well as needing to present "evidence of disability" to every individual venue too. It's an unpredictable system that offers no consistency.

Arts Council England has been working with BFI to create a free national Arts Access Card that aims to deliver the consistency that disabled people need, however, it's just been delayed until 2024 after having an original delivery date of March 2022.

As a regular disabled theatre goer I've lost count of how many different systems I've experienced across UK theatres. In some venues a free companion ticket is offered, in others you get two tickets at half price. Some places will offer a discount when you're a solo disabled theatre goer, and others will only offer it when you're accompanied by someone else. When I pick up the phone to add myself to another theatre's access list, I have no idea what to expect.

I'm not a big concert or festival goer and a lot of that is down to a lack of information on accessibility and how to book tickets. I recently wanted to book tickets for a concert at Wembley, but had no idea how to begin, and after seeing how challenging it was just to buy standard tickets, I abandoned my plans. It was just too confusing, for no reason at all. Complicated systems like this are putting off disabled people from accessing the arts, we are actively shutting people out.

When disabled people message me asking for advice on booking accessible tickets for theatre I wish I could promise them it's a straightforward and easy process, but instead I have to risk putting them off with the honest truth; it's a minefield. It's for this reason that it's so disappointing to see the card be delayed for another two years. A solution to this problem cannot come quick enough.

I hope that the Arts Access Card will provide disabled people like me with the clarity we need, and do away with needing to repeat yourself and produce evidence to multiple venues. One single card that conveys my needs would make my experience so much easier, and less stressful.

Shona Louise is a writer, photographer, access consultant and disability & theatre blogger

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