John Thornton: Going To The Games
Many years ago my sports were swimming and fencing (I was lucky enough to receive coaching in both sports by Olympians) so I looked forward to watching them both at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Unfortunately I couldn't get tickets for any of those events. So I was disappointed to see - when I saw them on TV instead - rows and rows of empty seats in the stadiums.
However I did get the chance to visit the Park and Excel and watch several other Paralympic Games events there. The sport was great and the atmosphere in the crowd was fantastic too. But I was disappointed by the lack of preparation by LOCOG to accommodate disabled people.
On my first visit to the Park none of the Games Makers (GMs) we first met knew where (or even what) the "Mobility Unit" was. We were herded through security like cattle and there was no signage to the mobility unit, just to a golf buggy which had no access for a wheelchair. (I later learned that only 1 in 3 of the Park golf buggies had wheelchair access.)
It was a very long walk from Stratford station, through the entrance into the Park. On our first visit it was pouring with rain and the only shelter was a projection from the Aquatic centre over the walk way. But a GM stood there - himself sheltering from the torrential rain and, with a loud megaphone he screamed at us that this was not a
shelter and to keep moving forward.
At security we'd been told to dispense with large umbrellas and the water from our bottles and that the bottles could be replenished from fountains inside the Park. My colleague needs a ready supply of water so we looked but there was no signage to the fountains. Eventually we found the long queue to a fountain, which was hidden away behind a large, prominently signed 'proud to be Visa' ATM.
We wanted to get our bearings and looked for a guide map. If you didn't mind getting neck strain, had photographic memory and could work your way through the crowds to get to it, there were a few large maps placed high up in odd locations in the Park.
But if, like us, you actually wanted an accessible map in your hand ... forget it! The only map available was in small print (a mixture of 9pt and 11pt text), low contrast, inaccurate and very poorly designed.
The GMs we met were most willing to be helpful but woefully ignorant. When we asked for a larger print map they suggested we visit a mobility "Hub" and tried to show my friend where it was on the small print map (which was amusing but not a lot of good). Then, at an Information tent, they said they'd ring through to the Mobility Hub and ask for someone to pop down with a large print map (or let us know if they don't print one). We waited over half an hour after which someone from the Hub allegedly phoned and said to the GMs "sort it out yourselves". Obviously miffed at this poor treatment one of the GMs kindly set off with us and we walked and wheeled around, asking at least 6-7 other GMs and security guards where the Mobility Hub was. Each would either shake their head or vaguely point in one direction, only to be told sometime later by another GM to go back the way we came.
Eventually, giving it up as a bad job, we set off for an entirely different section of the Park where our heroic GM definitely knew there was a Mobility Unit. Guiding us through a dense commercial section, we found the toilets section and, yes, you guessed it, tucked away beside the toilets, was a Mobility Unit tent. There was no directional signage to the Unit and only tiny signage on the tent itself.
John Thornton (DBU member)