Issue: WHEELCHAIR ACCESS TO THE FRONT FOYER. CAIRNS CIVIC THEATRE
19th April 2001: Robyn Gobert - Disability Advocate.
Regarding the Cairns Civic Theatre:
Providing equitable access, or barrier-free access is no longer a question of cost versus population usage. That is considered to be an antiquated view.
In accordance with the ADA, ADD and ABS - with some exceptions - one must provide barrier-free access to public buildings.
There is also a moral obligation when it comes to public access and usability. If one has provided part access and usability with the provision of a ramp into the building and a disability toilet, then a person (in a wheelchair, for example) gaining access to that venue has the right to equity.
In short, my entry fee buys the same experiences and privileges that an able bodied person's money buys. Less than this is discrimination.
This means that if you are able to buy a drink, use the toilet, go upstairs, sit in a seat of your choice, have refreshments in the lounge area, come in via the front entrance and move about unaided and unencumbered without being treated in any way that will cause you embarrassment or draw attention to you, so should everyone be enabled to do this and the provider of this venue is responsible for provision of this access and usability.
There was a similar case in Brisbane a couple of years ago which resulted in a huge lawsuit - the Council lost and THAT was an embarrassing waste of Taxpayers money if ever we saw one.
Putting in ramps etc without advice has, in some instances, resulted in expensive retrofitting, an even longer delay and the waste of money that infuriates people with disabilities who live their life paying their rates and taxes and waiting for the provision of barrier-free infrastructure.
I'm told that it has been estimated that retrofitting costs approximately 200 times more than getting it right the first time. THAT is a waste of taxpayers money, not the minimal cost of providing equity in the first place. Besides that, why is it up to people with disabilities to act as watchdogs? Why can't we rely on these professionals, who are being paid out of our rates and taxes, to do their jobs and get it right the first time?
Councilors speak of seeing where best to spend taxpayers dollars? Try to imagine the frustration of people who are required to pay their rates and taxes over a lifetime and not have their needs met.
We have, for generations, been footing the bill for infrastructure that creates a jail around us!
When I say "us" I mean the changing 35% of the population who use disability access provisions each day (State Government figures).
We have an ageing population and a lengthening age expectancy. Although only 4% of us are born with a disability, by the age of 75 one has a 68% chance of having a significant disability. By the age of 85 this percentage is 84%. (ABS)
These provisions are not just for people in wheelchairs.
The majority of us will have spent some time in a pram or been parents or a participating family member, most have used a shopping trolley, we've all been a child, many have been a patient, many people have worked within the medical/disability service industry or tourism support industry, or cared for someone who needed to use disability access provisions. These are some of this identified 35%.
Australia is experiencing a heightened International Tourism profile. This includes the 20 - 22 percent of people with disabilities from other countries, many of whom choose to holiday in Australia. Our Asian neighbours with disabilities are clamouring to holiday in FNQ.
Tourism Queensland is working hard to make Queensland the most desirable destination in this country. Cairns, the hub of Tropical North Queensland, is one of the most desirable destinations, yet is not considered to be an accessible destination.
One only has to visit places like Southbank and Darling Harbour to see the 20% of the population with significant disabilities. Because these places are accessible and useable, there are people everywhere in wheelchairs, for example. The only place one sees that in Cairns at present is in the shopping plazas.
One hundred thousand people with disabilities fly out of Australia each year. Why are we letting these significant dollars leave our country?
Some would like to see a progressive minded Council for Cairns - one which provides "best practice" instead of "minimum standards" and educates themselves on the needs of 35% of their taxpayers, thus displaying a working attitude of awareness and inclusivity.
In this way they will also be providing for and supporting their business community.
There are economic advantages to providing an equitably accessible and useable product that Cairns is largely missing out on at present. Many individual businesses are providing accessibility, but the infrastructure isn't supporting it.
By NOT providing basics like curb ramps without a lip is, in my opinion, a huge waste of taxpayers funds.
Cairns could be seen on the world stage as a glaring example of retrograde attitudes.
A building like the Civic Theatre is meant to provide theatrical access for the whole population of Far North Queensland, yet taxpayers with disabilities (temporary or permanent) can not, in 2001, equitably access whatever is provided in this building.
12th April 2001: Lenore Evans.
Councillor Margaret Gill, Division 6, Deputy Mayor of Cairns City Council, says that she will inspect the theatre from disability access view, in the immediate future.
5th April 2001: Lenore Evans.
This issue was reported to the council on 29th August 1999 - CBUG Report No 110, again in 2000 and again in 2001, with no reply.
5th April 2001: Robyn Gobert.
Read with interest The Critic's Choice in "Letters", edition 347 of Barfly.
In "step four" of this master plan it was suggested that the Cairns City Council "leave the Civic Theatre the way it is for the next five years".
Does this mean that, for the next five years, people with mobility impairments will have to be brought into the main foyer of the Civic with the special opening of doors which draws attention to our presence, brought into the theatre - first up a side ramp like a social embarrassment - and then inside down at the front like part of the first act? With no available spaces for those using wheelchairs to blend into the normal seating, we're left sticking out in the auditorium like an afterthought.
I think not! SURELY?
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