Good Work Tramlines! Thinking about disability
I love Tramlines. It is the highlight of the year in Sheffield and is an amazing showcase of the wonderful talent we have in this great city. For those who don’t know, Tramlines is an inner city festival in Sheffield from the 24th to 26th July, it is city wide with a huge main stage and then venues all over town, all for a stonkingly good price of £30 for a weekend ticket!
Photo: Timm Cleasby – The Picture Foundry
So I was chatting to the brilliant festival director Sarah Nulty who told me about how Tramlines is trying to be accessible to all and as I love talking poo, obviously that was my first question. All toilets are relatively spacious and plentiful for able bodied people, but there are accessible toilets for those with specific needs which will be near the disabled viewing platforms. But if anyone has access needs for the larger toilets due to a medical issue, Tramlines is offering a special wristband that will avoid any embarrassing questioning for those with invisible disabilities who may need to use the accessible loos at the main stages.
If you have a medical issue that may require you to use these toilets, you need to head over to the main wristband exchange points on Ponderosa Park or City Hall with some form of proof that you have extra needs and a valid ticket and the staff there will give you a wristband that allows access to these toilets. Security and staff will be aware what these wristbands allow and this means there is no embarrassing explanation of your needs during the weekend.
Good work Tramlines!
Regarding disabled access, an accessible viewing platform will be available at the Main Stage, and stewards will be available on the day to help direct you. As with the whole festival, shows on the Main Stage do get extremely busy, so please do arrive early. The disabled loo access band is for use at the Accessible Toilets only at the main stage and Devonshire Green, not the other venues.
I would highly recommend giving Tramlines a visit, tickets are still available but get buying quickly as it could easily sell out!
See you there!
Sam x
This is not a sponsored post, I just LOVE Tramlines! My husband is involved in the running of Tramlines but I have received no remuneration for this post.
Two thumbs up for this festival! Too bad I will have to miss it. Have a prophet-able time there – The False Prophet
I wanted to share that after my five years of having MCTD and Lyme Disease, I was just awarded, after a two year battle, SSDI. I can’t state strongly enough that you MUST have an attorney specializing (and won who wins a lot and for many years) in SSDI. The whole goal of the government is to break you down to a point that you just quit, and, it isn’t easy not to. You have to leave your job, file immediately and not work, period (or somehow word under the table if possible). I was too sick to do a thing, I didn’t have to fake a thing. Fortunately, I had an incredible psychiatrist (of course he didn’t take insurance, no good doctor’s do, and Obamacare saved me nothing, but instead cost me something everytime I turned around). I was prescribed anti-depressants, anti-aniextys, sleep meds, then I had a Rheumatologist who prescribed Morphine (I am allergic to every narcotic and barely can tolerate this). I also did a lot of homeopathic remedies (colonics at home, vitamins, clean, organic eating). After two years SSDI sent me for a psychological eval, I was nervous but it was incredibly depressing because while I wouldn’t “fake” it, I didn’t have to, I couldn’t remember what the examiner said after one sentence. I was so depressed by my own reality that I cried through most of it. A month later I rec’d my “award” letter stating I was a category 3 (diagnosis so bad, prognosis to improve poor) and I won’t be reviewed for 5 – 7 years. Now I wait for the 2 years of back payment and the ability to file for Medicare (silver lining) in April. Being chronically ill is full of suffering, I have faith in God and try to live a life of optimism but I wouldn’t be honest if I stated that ongoing pain that isn’t relieved (yes, I’ve tried it all), along with sadness, can sometimes be so much that I just sequester myself, and you know what, IT’S OKAY TO DO IT, IT MAKES ME FEEL BETTER, NOT SORRY, FOR MYSELF. WE NEED TO REST. I wish you all the very best in our journeys. C
Thanks so much for sharing xxxx