Accessible Gigs Guide
From personal assistant tickets to viewing platforms, how to book access at a gig, prove your needs once and complain when it goes wrong.
Photo: Fab_Photo_29 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Disabled music fans in Great Britain have a legal right to reasonable adjustments at gigs under the Equality Act 2010, from an extra ticket for a personal assistant to a viewing platform or step-free route. The Access Card lets you show your access needs once, instead of explaining them at every booking.
Your rights under the Equality Act
The Equality Act 2010, which covers England, Scotland and Wales, requires service providers, including venues, promoters and ticket sellers, to make reasonable adjustments so disabled people are not put at a substantial disadvantage compared with non-disabled customers. That can mean changing the way things are done, removing or avoiding physical barriers such as steps, or providing extra aids and information in accessible formats. What counts as reasonable depends on the circumstances, but where an adjustment is reasonable a venue must make it and cannot charge the disabled customer for doing so. Northern Ireland has its own disability discrimination law.
At gigs this usually works through the venue's or ticket seller's access booking line or form. A personal assistant (PA) or companion ticket is the best-known adjustment: Attitude is Everything, the charity that works with the music industry on access for deaf and disabled people, explains that expecting someone who cannot attend alone to buy two tickets is unfair, so an extra ticket for the PA can be a reasonable adjustment. Other common arrangements include viewing platforms, seating, step-free routes, accessible toilets and quiet spaces, so check the venue's access page for what it offers.
The Access Card and the Sunflower lanyard
The Access Card, run by Nimbus Disability, is a photo card that translates your disability into symbols showing the barriers you face and the adjustments you need, so you do not have to explain your condition or send medical evidence each time. It is accepted at thousands of venues, events and attractions, and it can link to ticketing systems online. There is a fee and the card has to be renewed after a set period; check the Access Card website for the current terms.
The Hidden Disabilities Sunflower lanyard is a voluntary way to show that you have a disability that may not be obvious and may need help, understanding or more time. It is widely recognised in public places, but it does not entitle you to anything beyond that and is not a fast-track pass, so gig access still needs booking through the usual route.
What to do when access fails
If an agreed adjustment is not in place on the night, raise it with staff straight away and note the time and who you spoke to. Afterwards, write to the venue, promoter or ticket seller through its published complaints route, saying what happened and which adjustment was missing or refused.
If that does not resolve it, the Equality Advisory and Support Service can explain the law, try to settle the problem informally and refer you to conciliation or mediation. A claim about discrimination by a service provider goes to the county court in England and Wales or the sheriff court in Scotland, usually within six months less one day of the incident.
The practical takeaway: read the venue's access information well before the on-sale, book through the access route rather than general sale, keep your Access Card details to hand, and put any failure in writing.
Checked against the sources below at the time of writing. Ticketing rules, licences, royalty schemes and festival policies change; confirm with the official body, venue or organiser before you rely on them.
