mikeagimp

Austin City Limits 07 Accessibility Review

It's that time of the year for another great music festival and damn, Austin City Limits is a good one.  It's big enough but not Bonnaroo big.  The festival is hosted by Zilker Park and the two "main" stages are on opposite ends.  The park grounds are much more wheelchair friendly compared to the farmland at Bonnaroo.  At Bonnaroo, I ran into a lot of tire tracks and other uneven ground from the weeks of setup.  For the most part, Zilker Park was pretty grassy and easy to roll over.  I wasn't rocking out the big Kenda treads I was at Bonnaroo which definitely helped me out.  My every day treads were good enough.  I imagine they made it a lot easier to go uphill when switching between the two main stages throughout the day.  At Bonnaroo, traveling between the two stages was a good workout.  For us gimps at ACL, that damn hill is really the only pain in the ass.  It's just steep enough that you don't want to tackle it head on.  I found it best to go as far right as possible when heading towards the AMD stage.  The hill felt smaller over there.

The parking was really easy to get too and they offered a shuttle to take you to and from the parking lot and festival entrance!  Yes, a shuttle!  I mean the distance between the two was a little painful at night after wheeling around all day but still, a free shuttle!  It saved me a few times after a couple beers, a sun burnt neck and sore shoulders.

The second very small complaint I have is that the festival map lacks where the accessible seating is at the various stages.  It's pretty much up to you to figure that part out.  Fortunately if you've been to a few of these, they are all pretty much the same (especially Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, they are run by the same company).  Usually the accessible seating is near the center or side sound/camera stages.  They did have a small sign on the stage but with 15,000 people around you it's sorta hard to see that when you're down here.  So if you were arriving to the stage at night, pssh ... good damn luck.  Maybe a glow in the dark one next year?  I know the candy kids would love it too.  The other kick-ass thing I love about Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits is that they both had wheelchair accessible restrooms immediately behind the accessible seating AND it's enclosed in the surrounding barricade so that only you and the VIP can use it!  I don't think I need to explain the significance in that do I?  Damn it was nice.  Of course you had to wait in line a few times for the VIP'ers to finish their lines of white g0d but eh ... they need to let loose and have fun too.

Speaking of the restrooms, the other nice thing I liked about Bonnaroo was the presence of a "Handicap Use Only" sign on all the accessible restrooms.  This would be nice at Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits because it keeps out most of the drunk frat guys who like to mark their territory.  When asked by ADA volunteers what I like most about the accessible programs, I always say the accessible restrooms.  'Cause damn I wouldn't want to have to pull out my special moves in order to take a piss.  However, the accessible restroom is only really sweet if it's fucking clean!  I mean I tried to take leak in one that was inside the VIP area at Bonnaroo's main stage and s-h-i-t  i-t  w-a-s  d-i-s-g-u-s-t-i-n-g (no pun intended).  Their was literally shit piled up to the rim amongst every female hygiene product and those alike.  Puke on the walls, the works.  What good is that to me?  I mean I don't mind sticking a 16' plastic tube up my good parts while holding my breath, the wheels with my elbows and oh trying to keep my feet off the nasty ground.  It's cool, I need to excercise.

At the end of the day, I see Austin City Limits only needing three things:

1. Signs on the accessible restrooms to ward off the majority of frequent missers
2. An icon noting the accessible seating on the festival map
3. A light in the accessible restrooms for at night