Hi all,

 

I don't post on here very often, but I do read and enjoy being on this group, and I just want to share something with you I feel very strongly about.

 

Legends 2006 has been organised, and the venue has been arranged at Ye Olde Bell.  This has no facilities for wheelchair users to stay at - all bedrooms are on the first floor and there is no lift. The organisers picked the venue knowing this.

 

How is a fan of RoS, who is a wheelchair user and who would love to attend the convention, going to be able to attend?

 

A lot of you may know me - or at least know me by sight - I was at Silver Arrow 2003, WiS 2003 and Legend last year.  I'm a wheelchair user.  I'm a RoS fan and love attending the conventions.  They are brilliant weekends.

 

Now, I find myself barred from this convention in 2006 because the organisers have picked a hotel which cannot accomodate a wheelchair user.

 

There are no hotels nearby which can accomodate me.  The nearest is 20 minutes drive away, and having been there before, I can tell you from past experience it is not manageable.

 

And why should I have to get in my car at end of evening and have to drive 20 minutes to another hotel and stay alone there, away from all my friends who are going to be at the convention?  Why should I have to do that, purely because I am a wheelchair user?

 

That amounts to discrimination.

 

Good grief, I love RoS, the times in which it is set - but are we still living in them?

 

I don't often moan, and never about the fact that I am in a wheelchair.  Those of you who know me, know that.  But this is SO unfair, and so upsetting for me, that I wanted to tell you about it.  You all love RoS, like I do, try and think how you would feel if excluded in this way from such a great gathering, purely because you cannot walk.

 

This is when such exclusion reduces me to tears, makes me feel like a third-class citizen.  I don't ask for special favours, all I ask for are the same rights as anyone else - the right of accessibility. The simple right of being able to stay in the same hotel where the con is being held, with all my friends. And organisers of conventions should realise that fans who love to attend their conventions come in differing abilities, have differing needs, and those needs should be taken into consideration when choosing a venue.

 

Chris who organises WiS - you are simply brilliant, and so are all you Americans, both in attitude towards wheelchair-users and taking into consideration differing needs when organising your conventions. Looking forward to seeing you all again in June.

 

Silver Arrow organisers - in 2003 you were great, and the couple of problems I did hit, you helped me out on.

 

But Legends.....shame on you for this.  Something needs to be done, and I would ask you to do something about this, because it is not just me, but anyone who is a wheelchair user is going to be unable to attend this event because of this barrier with the venue. 

 

And I'm not a rabid "disability rights" person, but there are times, like this, where I find things like this just so plain unfair and upsetting and it just makes me sick to my stomach, that I have to speak out and tell people how I feel.

 

Thanks for listening,

 

Nikke.