It's festival season and this disabled music fan wants to see better event accessibility

For some, London's festival season brings up happy memories of warm summer nights, good food and seeing a favourite music artist up close. 

For Londoners with disabilities, the season can cause stress and frustration while trying to enjoy the city's major annual events.

That's why one Londoner with physical disabilities is calling on summer festivals to implement better accessibility considerations this year.

"There's some shows that I've been at … where it's kind of not worth going back because it was so hard to see," said Valerie Hembruff, a longtime music fan with several health challenges, including severe asthma and back issues. 

Hembruff, who is currently using an electric wheelchair after fracturing bones last month, said her top suggestion is to ensure all festivals have accessible seating areas for people with disabilities. 

"Hearing it definitely is special, but being able to see it is why some of us are here," she said. "These special musicians came from other countries so we can see them with our eyes too."

Hembruff was at Sunfest in Victoria Park over the weekend, and said there was no accessible seating at the event, so she was sometimes left staring at the backs of people's heads. 

"We don't feel the need for any extra platforms because it's easy to get to the front of the stages throughout most of the park," Sunfest co-artistic director Mercedes Caxaj said. "There are different festivals where they have VIP areas or people get to the park really early to get to the front of the stage, but we don't really have that at Sunfest."

Hembruff agreed that Sunfest attendees are typically eager to let her move to the front, but that is not guaranteed at all festivals at all times.

"There's an atmosphere [at Sunfest] of letting people in a wheelchair come to the front, compared to concerts where no one will move an inch to let someone through," she said. "It would still be better if there was designated accessible seating near the front, preferably in the shade."

Some of her other suggestions include ensuring that washrooms are accessible, having visible water refill stations, adding electric wheelchair charging stations, reducing tripping hazards and widening walking pathways. 

At Sunfest, the narrow pathways can be a problem for everyone, Caxaj said, but the city has rules on where they can place food and artisan vendors.

"As much as we'd love to open it up to make wider paths and that was one of our ideas, the city does require us to have the vendors as close [to the sidewalk] as possible to minimize the damage to the grass or the trees," she said, adding that Sunfest typically advises people with disabilities to use the sidewalks surrounding the park if they need to get around quickly. 

Hembruff noticed the door accessibility button does not work outside of the woman's washroom at Victoria Park, which is the city's -- not Sunfest's -- responsibility to fix. However, she said festivals should position a staff member near the bathroom door for assistance and add more accessible porta-potties in cases like this.

Accessible events help everyone, concert organizer says

Hembruff said she wants local festivals to hire a disability coordinator to be part of their planning teams, which Caxaj said is something Sunfest would consider looking into down the road. 

One group working to create accessible music events in Ontario is Xenia Concerts, which hosts concerts that are disability and neurodivergent-friendly around the Greater Toronto Area, and collaborates with events province-wide who want to improve accessibility. 

Its executive and artistic director Rory McLeod said inclusive concerts and festivals must consider four types of barriers: physical access, sensory considerations, social barriers and financial challenges. 

"It's not as simple as creating a checklist and making sure that you're doing everything on your list. You really need to engage directly with the community," he said. 

Some of McLeod's suggestions for more accessible festivals include offering sign language for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, setting up "quiet tents" for people who may feel overwhelmed by crowds, and providing support materials like earplugs and blankets for those in need throughout the event. 

He said supporting people with disabilities has a wider impact on all event attendees. 

"When you think about accessibility and you design for better accessibility, you actually make the experience better for everyone," he said. "Everybody can benefit from shade, access to water, and all these things."

Making festivals more accessible is not just up to event organizers, Hembruff said, adding that it takes the efforts of festivalgoers too. 

"Individually, people can just look out for disabled people and make space for them. Don't walk looking at your cell phone and be considerate," Hembruff said.