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Attitude Is Everything rallies MPs to support its Access Starts Online campaign
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 9 March 2016
Attitude Is Everything has used a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group On Music to call on those MP types to support its Access Starts Online campaign.
As previously reported, Attitude Is Everything, the charity that encourages the live music sector to improve accessibility to its events for deaf and disabled music fans, launched its Access Starts Online campaign last year, calling on venues and festivals to ensure decent access information is provided on their websites.
Such a simple thing can open up shows to music fans who may otherwise choose to stay away because of concerns over access. Yet, in AIE’s recent State Of Access report, it was revealed a third of venues and festivals fail to provide any such information, while less than a fifth are providing top quality info.
AIE boss Suzanne Bull used the recent APPG meeting to call on MPs to contact venues in their local constituencies to raise awareness of the need for better access information, and to let them know about the resources her charity offers to help with that process. Bull also stressed that, while providing decent access information online was the right thing to do anyway, it’s also commercially beneficial, because it enables venues and festivals to sell tickets to music fans currently not buying because of access concerns.
Says Bull: “A growing number of live music businesses in the UK are improving their access facilities and reaping the commercial benefits, but there is still a major problem with venue and festival websites not providing comprehensive access information. Music should be for everyone, but without these essential details many disabled fans will be dissuaded from buying tickets in the first place – which is why we are calling on MP’s to support Access Starts Online and help get our message out into their constituencies”.
Amongst the political types supporting the initiative is Blackpool MP Paul Maynard, who told reporters: “Attitude Is Everything’s ‘can-do’ approach has helped massively increase the numbers of deaf and disabled people attending live music events. However, as the charity’s recent State Of Access Report pinpoints, there are still areas where more can be done, and especially when it comes to festival and venue websites providing detailed access information. Rectifying this situation is extremely cost effective and would, at one stroke, obliterate a major barrier faced by disabled audiences – which is why we are calling on all UK live music businesses to support the Access Starts Online campaign”.
