TOPIC: Disabled Fan Section

Sorry if this has already been mentioned on here but I've just read an article on the BBC with regards to the disability guidelines.

It states ''Carlisle United has 120 seats fewer than recommended''.

Surely this has to be improved? Bit embarrassing really..

Link : www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35742963

Didn't I just read we've gone in for some grant to improve them?

Andy Hall says in paper everything's ok!

The away facilities at the end of the paddock have got to be some kind of sick joke. A bit of cement in the most exposed place in the whole ground. Mr Hall wants to try and sit there for 90 mins on a freezing Tuesday night!

It looks like we are the club is have the greatest number under target. Must be an allocation % to stadium size. But do we really have a waiting list of disabled fans??

CUOSC have applied for a 10k grant from the Premier League fund (because it needs to be a fans group that applies, not the club directly) which will be used by the club, but then there is a further 20k being applied for, with a view to upgrading disabled facilities I believe. Think this is being discussed by CUSG - the section in the Paddock is an absolute shambles. Not quite sure who deems that adequate.

cufcdeano wrote:
Can nothing be done to improve them through the insurance payouts from the floods?.

Dancingbear wrote:
Presumably the payoffs from the floods will pay to fix what was damaged, not install something that wasn't there in the first place.

DeckchairBlue wrote:
In theory yes but wont they just give a cash settlement some of which could be put towards improving these areas. I take it they were underwater so however basic they are theyll still have suffered?.

I'm sure our disabled supporters would appreciate some sort of electric fence around them, to prevent Steve Patt coming round pre match and boring the tits off them.

nobbyblue wrote:
Yes that is absolutely ridiculous. No cover at all, and as you say the most exposed part of the ground, I imagine it's like sitting in an Arctic wind tunnel at times.

Unless of course you have an amazing technicolor cardigan on.

Moorlad wrote:
It's a difficult one to be fair and really needs to be about options. To stand out in the rain and the wind in the Paddock, on reflection is a pretty stupid thing to do; yet many of us refuse roofed and drier areas. The wheelchair area in the paddock does have the advantage that you can be with family, children can come along too., whereas in the area that's covered for wheelchairs at the bottom of the Pioneer Stand it's limited to one carer. Yes, it seems harsh seeing folk in wheelchairs in the open in Paddock North, but you try telling some one like David Weir he should be wrapped up nice and warm. The clever trick is to provide as many choices for folk with disabilities as you can and give them the choice.

That brings me to the away end options for wheelchairs and they are sit out in the open in the rain or don't come, which is totally unacceptable and needs sorting.

Can they just not sit in their larl powder blue 3 wheelers like they used to?

Here's something Sunderland have done - an area for fans with autistic issues (often get anxious in crowds or noisy situations***)

metro.co.uk/2016/02/04/sunderland-go-ext...end-matches-5662240/

*** Obviously not an issue at Brunton Park, but you know ...

Bumble wrote:
I kind of agree about that part of the Paddock Bumble, but I have to say I've been to a lot of games where the weather was reasonable when I first arrived only for a deluge of Biblical proportions to strike midway into the first half and continue for the duration of the game. To be honest, in general, I'm not at all bothered by the weather, but there have been a couple of times when I've moved back a few yards because my hair was getting ruined. Those poor people are pretty stuck under those circumstances.

The club as a whole is not catering very well for disabled supporters, but it isn't the only club like that. My feeling is we should be ahead of the game on this, not 40 years behind, we should be looking to show a bit of compassion. Why not make it as easy for a disabled person to attend as it is for the likes of me? I can watch the game from anywhere (just about) in the stadium, I can get to where I want to in the stadium easily as well. Disabled access in most things is shite, we should make it a bit easier for disabled people to enjoy their leisure time, they're as entitled to it as anybody else.

I don't mean to sound like I'm patronising disabled people, I think it's a real issue in football.

Totally agree Moorlad. I'm afraid football lags behind society in general and there still seems to an attitude in many football clubs that as long as able bodied men are catered for the gate money will still come in.

Very few clubs have facilities that are fit for purpose . When most football clubs were built people in wheelchairs were not expected to want to go to football and it's rarely a good experience even today.

Most clubs will offer a wheelchair and carer package but rarely do wheelchair users have the chance of going to football as a family. It's like some how if you're in a wheelchair you couldn't possibly have kids or grandkids that you would want to take to a game, you couldn't possibly be capable of doing that. You only need some one with you as a carer, you couldn't possibly actually be able to look after kids or even just hang out with a group of friends

Of course as with everything facilities are financially driven. Making an area specifically for groups that include folk in wheelchairs, would take up areas of the ground that would be more financially profitable with just ordinary seats. However in a ground that is far too big for its current fanbase, it would make some very good publicity to see about making areas that are truly family and friends friendly, that was inclusive to folk in wheelchairs or any of the other challenges folk face.

You're exactly right again Bumble. Wasn't there a law that places had to cater properly for disabled customers and staff years ago? I remember I had clients who had to spend a fortune making their places accessible for disabled people (quite a lot got grants, I remember applying for loads of grant money at the time). Did the law not apply to football grounds? Your point on the size of Brunton Park compared with the numbers that attend applies equally to most clubs outside the Premier League as well. Surely if there were more friendly environments for disabled punters all over the country, more disabled people would take the opportunity to turn up. If that were to be the case the facilities might even pay for themselves.

It isn't just people with disabilities we're letting down, Bumble mentions (quite rightly) the friends and families of disabled fans. But we're rubbish at dealing with families of anybody, the facilities for families (in the main) are a disgrace. Like it or not we are in competition for people's leisure time, and disposable income. Compare the experience of Brunton Park with that of a cinema, theatre or just about anything else and the outcome is not favourable. Why the hell would a family want to spend their time and money on a trip to something that was outdated 40 years ago? All that is bad enough, but what we (and most other clubs) provide for our disabled fans is inhumane really, and has to change.