The trials and tribulation of disabled access at Download Festival 2022

Here's how our experience at Download festival disabled access camp went...

The view of the main stage from the disabled viewing platform

My friend and I decided to get disabled access after using it at Reading Festival last year as he is visually impaired. It was also helpful for him as it allowed him to have the space to be able to move around camp without tripping up on guide ropes and I'm autistic and preferred to be camped in a place which is not crowded. However, the problems with the camp would start before we got to the festival.

The first problem we had was that despite my friend sending multiple emails and making many calls to the disabled access team, we did not get any confirmation about whether we would be able to camp in the access camp and the only thing he got back was a guide to the camp. The gave us a lot of anxieties about camping and parking as we had no passes or confirmation about where we can camp. Despite all of this, we arrived at camp with no one checking our passes or tickets and we unloaded the car and set up our camp. Once we set up our camp we went over to the information hub to see if we were able to camp here (despite being let on-site with no confirmation) and get our wristbands. We then queued for an hour to get these and were then got told that the place to get all of the stuff we needed had been moved and we had to queue up again to the new place. As a person with autism, this was very frustrating and I became quite anxious so I can't imagine what this may have been like for someone who suffers from anxiety. Also, the place was moved onto grass, making it difficult for wheelchair users to use. This was not the start we were expecting of a disabled camp which had won awards in the past and with three years to plan all this out, this was a major disappointment.

The disorganisation did not stop there as on Wednesday evening as we decide to go to the doghouse which was a place where bands and DJs were playing. I realised that I left some of my diabetic stuff in my tent so we decided to go back and grab it only to find out that our path back to disable camp was blocked off. I spoke to security and they told us that they had closed off the entrance to disable access camp (how ironic) but could not explain why. I explained that I'm a type one diabetic and needed my medication and the only response I got was "We can take you to the medical centre".A medical centre would not have the medication I needed so would be no use to me at all! Myself and another camper were joking telling other campers to not go into the village as they would be trapped. We then got a response from a security guard saying "we are trying to help you but if you keep shouting then we won't". I understand that we were joking about the situation and putting pressure on security, but there was no need for security to speak to us in this way and left and my friend was disgusted by the situation. There were also people with walking sticks waiting for 20 minutes in agony yet no assistance was made by security to help them. In the end, all they did was lay out some cones to stop traffic going a certain way in the car park. As previously said, they have had three years to plan all this and put these sorts of things in place before we get to the festival and the fact that none of this is done was unacceptable. We eventually got out but did not go back to the village as we were unsure if we get trapped again which lead to us missing out on the events at the doghouse and more. Download was meant to be more accessible this year but on the first day, it didn't seem that way.

Groups of people wait at the exit of the village as security refuse any entry to the camp

Our next issue arrived on Friday when I was awoken by one of the 'Dog Squad' Members asking us to move our tent to allow another group to camp next to us. The main frustration with this is that we positioned our tent so my friend would be able to walk out of the tent facing the race course meaning he didn't have to come across any guide ropes that he wouldn't be able to see. Now we would have to navigate guide ropes which we wanted to avoid. The 'Dog Squad' also wanted to put more tents in front of us restriction us even more but thankfully after talking to us and some other visually impaired campers they moved them elsewhere. I had the feeling that the 'Dog Squad' were more interested in getting as many campers crammed into the site than meeting the needs of the disabled festival-goers which defeats the whole point of the campsite in the first place. The moving of my tent also caused one of the poles in my tent to split (which we discovered when packing the tent on Sunday) which has now left me looking for a new tent which as you can imagine with the current cost of living crisis, it's not easy finding a new six-man tent at an affordable price.

We also had issues packing our car on the camp up on Sunday as well. First off I found my car blocked in due to other cars being blocked in the way and I was lucky that someone moved their car so I could get out. The next issue was that I was being denied entry to the camp as I needed a "Golden pass" to bring my car on site. This was not communicated to us at all and after asking security it seemed it was a last-minute decision. There were even signs displayed all over camp to tell us that we could bring our cars on-site and no pass was mentioned. This delayed us from packing our stuff up and almost lead to us missing bands which was the reason we are all there in the first place. I also told our fellow campers to get these wristbands as non of this was being communicated to anyone. It's not my job to tell people what to do. As organisers of the camp that is what they get paid for.

While we had a terrible experience in the so-called disabled access camp, There were some things that Download did get right. The Oxfam Volunteers who would be seen on the campsite and on the viewing platforms were so friendly and very informative. they helped us move our tent and also gave us a lot of information which seemed that they had more information than the organisers of the camp had. Also, the viewing platforms at all the stages were fantastic. They allowed us to chill out at some acts and not have to navigate our way through a crowd which can be difficult at these events for anyone who is visually impaired. They also had chairs for us to sit down on, plenty of space for any wheelchair users and water on tap. Finally, The bars and the merch stands all had disabled access points which meant we did not have to join queues or have to walk through a line of barriers which could be a trip hazard for most disabled people.

Overall, we had a great time at Download but this was tainted by the shockingly bad organisation of the disabled access camp which we were not impressed by at all. Considering that my friend has already applied for his disabled access to Reading Festival this year and already has confirmation from Festival Republic, It speaks volumes about how appalling the disabled access was at Download this year. I also tried to complain to the disabled access team via email explaining all my issues and also reaching out to them to see if they wanted to comment on any of the issues but so far I have had no reply. In terms of music, Download Festival 2022 was the best weekend I've had at a festival. We saw some amazing bands, made new friends and had so much fun, which I can't wait to talk about in my future blogs. It's just such a shame that this experience in disabled access camp has sort of brought a downer to what was a fantastic weekend