Event Accessibility: What to Publish Before the Gates Open
Event and festival accessibility from the information side: the Equality Act duty on a temporary site, the Attitude is Everything Live Events Access Charter and its Access Starts Online list of what to publish, viewing platforms and the 1 + 1 system, and a site map that carries the access facts to the visitor's phone.
An event site exists for a weekend, which tempts organisers to treat accessibility as a thing for buildings. It is not. A festival, a show, a fair or a conference in a marquee is a service to the public, the Equality Act 2010 anticipatory duty applies to it in full, and the EHRC Services Code names the parking, the kerbs, the toilets and the information as physical features and auxiliary aids the organiser must deal with before anyone asks. The good news is that on a temporary site the information is most of the adjustment, and the information is cheap.
What the music industry worked out
Live music has the most developed thinking on this. Attitude is Everything, a disability-led charity, runs the Live Events Access Charter, "a framework, toolkit, and assessment process" with Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels, and "it is not possible for a venue or event to receive accreditation at any level without fully meeting the essential criteria". Its Access Starts Online campaign began after research for its 2016 State of Access Report found that 52% of UK venues and festivals surveyed provided poor access information or none at all.
The campaign's guide asks for a dedicated access page, easy to find from the front page and called Access Info, with fourteen headings: introduction, contact details, a download of all the access information, a site description, bookable access facilities, how to apply, a travel guide, an arrival guide, toilets, medical and welfare, access to the performance, assistance dogs, strobe lighting and other information. The site description asks for distances and terrain, such as the distance from the accessible campsite to the main stages. For viewing platforms it asks organisers to describe where every platform is, the accreditation system, the stewarding and whether there are toilets at the platform, and recommends a 1 + 1 system: a wristband for the disabled visitor and a lanyard for a personal assistant, so the companion can change during the day.
The same list for any event
Swap "stage" for "ring", "hall" or "marquee" and the list is right for an agricultural show, a county fair, a graduation, a trade show or a conference. The Euan's Guide 2025 Access Survey explains why it matters commercially: 42% of disabled respondents avoid a venue with no access information, parking was the most common barrier at 64%, and 70% return to a venue with good access and 66% tell others. For an event that lives on word of mouth, the access page is marketing.
From a page to a map
Most of the fourteen headings are places: the accessible car park and the distance to the gate, the step-free entrance, the viewing platforms, the accessible toilets and the Changing Places unit, the medical tent, the quiet space, the assistance-dog relief area, the meeting point, the first-aid posts. A page describes them; a map shows where they are relative to where the visitor is standing, and routes them there on a surface they can manage. Trackway and tarmac routes, the gradient of the field and the resting places along the way are the difference between a route and a line. Event site maps visitors will actually use covers the map itself.
On the day
A temporary site changes by the hour: a viewing platform full, a car park closed by rain, a route cut by a vehicle movement. The access page written in May cannot say so. A map the control room can edit can, and can send the change to every phone that has it open. The Signposted event template is built for that: stages, stands, car parks, first aid and meeting points, updated during the event, with the accessible wayfinding features (step-free routes, read-aloud directions, no app to install) built to WCAG 2.2 AA, and a accessibility statement the organiser can point to when the charter assessor asks.
Before the gates open
General information, not legal advice. The code of practice and the charter criteria are the documents to quote.
Questions people ask
Does the Equality Act apply to a one-day event in a field?
Yes. The organiser is providing a service to the public, and the anticipatory duty applies to the field, the car park, the toilets and the information as much as to a building. Temporary does not mean exempt.
What is the Live Events Access Charter?
A framework, toolkit and assessment run by the charity Attitude is Everything for venues and festivals. Accreditation runs Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum, and no level can be awarded without meeting all the essential criteria.
What should the access page say about viewing platforms?
Where every platform is, how a visitor gets accredited to use one, how it is stewarded and whether there are toilets at it. Attitude is Everything recommends a 1 + 1 system, a wristband for the disabled person and a lanyard for a personal assistant, so the companion can change during the day.
More on accessibility & the law
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