It’s nice to go out as a family, maybe to a concert for children or a trip to the cinema. Unfortunately, this is something we seldom do. This is partly because Rosalie, like most nearly four-year-olds, has a short attention span and finds it difficult to sit still, especially if there is a folding chair/old sweet wrapper to be played with.

There is another problem, though. Outings are not always easy to organise because, while there are honourable exceptions, many venues provide wheelchair access for the wheelchair user and one companion/carer. This is fine until you want to go somewhere with more than one other person.

If we want to go to the theatre with friends, for example, we are rarely able to sit together. Music venues tend to be worse, as they will often insist that friends leave the “disabled area”. There also seems to be a general view that disabled people do not have children, as facilities are often mutually exclusive. The obvious exception is disabled toilets and baby-changing facilities. This was something that I was glad of when Rosalie was in nappies, but there are occasions when I curse the oversized change-table and 17 dirty nappy receptacles that frequently prevent me from being able to even get in. Is there any smell worse than that which escapes from those nappy-bins? I’m sure it could be used as a way of dispersing demonstrations. Hotels can also be a problem, as finding an accessible room with space for three is very difficult. It’s hard enough getting a double bed, let alone a double and a single. That said, hotel stays seldom live up to expectations when you have kids.

The anticipated break usually culminates in an evening spent sitting in the dark drinking wine from plastic cups and sucking the flavour off a bag of crisps while preserving the silence punctuated only by childish snores and snuffles.

Back in theatre-land, there are honourable exceptions, which show how relatively easy it can be to provide a more inclusive solution. Pull out a seat or two where there’s level access to the auditorium and I’ll sit at the end of the row. It shouldn’t be that hard.

timrushby-smith.com

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