Are Gigs Accessible to People with Disabilities? Plus the Return of Poetry Corner!

In this episode, we dive into the world of live music to ask: are concerts and gigs truly accessible for people with disabilities? We share some of our own experiences to find out. 

We also reflect on our visit to CJ’s Bakery—where delicious cakes are made with care, and meaningful employment is offered to a brilliant team of people with learning disabilities. And finally, Poetry Corner makes its return! This week, our featured poets are Carol and Babak.

Project Managers: Andrea Rai & Phil Powell.

Editor: Phil Powell

Project Managers: Andrea Rai & Phil Powell
Editor: Phil Powell

Huge thanks to the National Lottery Reaching Communities Fund for supporting our Dis-labled podcast. Learn more about their amazing work: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk

All enquiries: podcast@communityfocus.co.uk
Website: https://www.communityfocus.co.uk/

Theme Music: Rastko Rasic & the students of Community FocusOther Music: Jazzy Frenchy by ⁠⁠⁠Benjamin Tissot

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:06

Community focused. Community focused. We're here for you. With me and you.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

I want to do.

Phillip R 0:22

At five o'clock, you're done with the podcast for.

SPEAKER_13 0:29

A weekend with you. We're here for you. Yes. Hooray! Hooray!

Gila 0:47

Community Focus is an art centre for children and adults with disabilities. We are based in Faber Bonnet in London and offer a collection of creative and well-being activities for all ages.

Jonathan 1:04

In the room we have Taylor, Carol, Remy, Baba, Jonathan and Amelia.

SPEAKER_12 1:21

In this episode we reflect on our visit to TJ's bakery. There, delicious tapes are fake while providing meaningful employment to a team with learning disabilities. We also explore whether concerts and gigs are accessible to people with disabilities, sharing some of our personal experiences. Plus Poetry Corner makes its return. This week's poets are Carol and Barbak.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Carol, what have you been doing this week?

Carol 1:59

So I was at home and I was playing uh video games when suddenly my computer started glitching weirdly. So I tried to find out what the problem was and suddenly I pressed the key and it sucked me into the game and I was screaming for help but no one heard me and I kept screaming and screaming until um my voice ran out and it started hurting and then I explored the game and I was stuck there forever. But then suddenly I woke up and I realized it was all just a dream.

Gila 2:56

So this week I went to CJ's Bakery and I invited some of um the our podcast friends to come to CJ's Bakery and um just to ask some questions to for boss um and they got some insight to to um what we do at the bakery. Um so that was a lot of fun. Um it made me feel proud that I can invite um the pot cut crew to the bakery and I can show um the potcast crew what it's like to um be in a bakery um so and also it made me feel a bit tired afterwards. Um but I love I love how the bakery and community focus is connected in um how they work together. Jonathan, how was your week?

Jonathan 4:22

My week could have been better. I have had a bit of a cold throughout this week, but I'm mostly okay now and I was glad I was at least okay enough for us to all be there for CJ's bakery, so that was good. I wish I I wish my cold were was completely gone by then, but uh yeah. What matters is I went.

Phillip R 4:44

It was marvellous, it's very good. Asking these qu asking these questions to the staff up there and the manager as well. And there's a certain person here. I'm not mentioning her name. Uh she really she really loves working up there, don't you?

Gila 5:03

Yes.

Phillip R 5:05

And how long have you been working up there?

Gila 5:10

I've been three years.

Phillip R 5:13

It's m it's uh it's a I think it was marvellous because it helps with people with disabil learning difficulties. And this your s your your manager really understands, doesn't she? About disabled people and how they tr they be treated as well. Uh Ballette, what have you been up to this week?

SPEAKER_01 5:32

This week? Um I went to the seasonal film was brilliant. What what they're doing for the disability is fantastic, what they're doing. I'm so proud of them.

Phil P 5:45

And are you gonna buy some cakes from there?

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Yes, I am.

Phillip R 5:56

45 Nowhere Street is a spying tangling soap opera. Written and performed by the drama students at Community Focus. Listen now, or your fog will get you.

SPEAKER_10 6:47

How may ice spirits help your soul?

Phillip R 6:52

Well, I came here to look for a friend of mine called Margaret. Margaret. Ah and other friends got turned into a doll. Believe it or not, you're at you're my last hope. I need to find Margaret to get my hands on fortune and mean friendship.

SPEAKER_10 7:18

Very well, let me construct my crystal bowl on spirits of Margaret. Please show yourself.

SPEAKER_04 7:26

Show yourself, show yourself, show yourself, show yourself.

SPEAKER_07 7:30

A cluck cluck cluck. Margaret, is that you?

SPEAKER_10 7:34

Are you called Margaret?

SPEAKER_07 7:37

Margaret? Who's Margaret? I'm a Jennifer! Can you? Yes! A Jennifer! I love my dentures! Have you seen them?

SPEAKER_10 7:50

But now how can we see them?

SPEAKER_07 7:53

I was looking over the pier and they fell out of my mouth into the sea. And then I woke up in a strange place.

SPEAKER_10 8:13

You're in the afterlife for you.

SPEAKER_07 8:24

Has anyone say Market? Anyone say somebody?

Phillip R 8:43

Archie, sorry. Oh, oh, are you? Okay, oh my god. Are you? Archie! Yes, I do see that. Can't see a thing. Archie! Are you? My eye has been watering for years and years. Turns out Seaside is the worst place to go to. When you say you see, goes. Are you? Are you? I don't suppose you got many any medic medication.

SPEAKER_10 9:05

Big God! Sorry. That that's the afterlife is pretty crowded. There's lots of tragedies around here.

Phillip R 9:14

Oh Will you ever get in touch with Mark?

SPEAKER_10 9:17

Let's try the spirit building yourself.

Phillip R 9:23

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_10 9:26

Are you I know my parishes of the wall?

SPEAKER_07 9:31

Oh no.

SPEAKER_16 9:32

And when I landed, I got entailed on the island. Oh no. And then the cliff of the child was uncollapsed onto the ocean.

SPEAKER_04 9:43

Oh no.

SPEAKER_16 9:44

And then I got eaten by the shark.

SPEAKER_04 9:47

Is that it?

SPEAKER_16 9:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:49

Oh no.

SPEAKER_10 9:51

Looks like it's uh story. We don't have to die, baby. Come on!

SPEAKER_18 10:03

Well how do you? Y'all are looking for a woman who margarits? I just got here myself. I love the pub with it. I'm so sorry. And when I got through the fog, there was a bunch of other folk here, including this woman who would margarit. Want me to get get here for you?

SPEAKER_04 10:26

Please.

SPEAKER_18 10:26

Margaret! Margaret, I'm over here. Some people want to talk to you.

SPEAKER_07 10:33

Who's that? Margaret is me. What are you doing here? We come to find you. But I'm lost here. The fog is so cold. You need to help me. But how Margaret? You need to! Go to!

Phillip R 10:50

You need to Where where is where is she? Where did she go to?

SPEAKER_10 10:55

I'm sorry. That's all we have time for today. But I need to find Margaret. I have a 4 pm panicle appointment. I cannot miss. Shall we try later?

SPEAKER_17 11:14

45 A Street stars Phil, Corey, Nadine and Carol.

Andrea 11:36

So we're just talking about going to gigs and concerts. Telling we've never been, would they like to go? How does it make you feel? The experience around it. Who have you seen, or who would you like to see?

SPEAKER_12 11:50

Yeah, I feel like I'm missing out and going um for concerts because there's no one to really go with me, and the top of that is the expense and it's the hassle to to book it as well, basically, and um the accessibility as well. And it's just too much hassle, I just can't be bothered sometimes because I feel like uh you can't just say, Oh, I'm gonna book this and that, you've got to book it for a disabil disability for disabled. It's always a hassle to do to to book it, and then you've got to get the seats, and then you've got to find out the toilets, and it's like uh, it's like really do I have to do this? And then you can't be bothered. Well, I can't be bothered anyway. But I would like to go to a concert, but and it's the expense with cost of living going up, it's too expensive. Doesn't matter if you get a discount, it's still too expensive.

Phil P 12:38

So you won't be going to see Oasis thing for £800 a ticket.

SPEAKER_12 12:42

No, couldn't even afford that. Couldn't even afford I wouldn't be able to afford £800 a ticket. God, I think they um priced the prices very high as well.

Gila 12:54

So I've been I haven't been to a gig or a concert, I don't think, but we did have in our um in our synagogue we did have someone called Miss Livinia Carr and she's a drag queen and I went to see one of her performances and I felt like I loved her outfit and her makeup but I just felt a bit like it wasn't for me, I don't think. Like I loved her performance and I loved her outfit and whatever, but I feel like she is I know it was a performance, but I just felt a bit out of place.

Phil P 13:53

Would you feel confident in going to gigs? Would you feel confident in booking them and going?

Jonathan 14:00

Uh yeah, I I th I think I would feel reasonably confident in in booking them. It's I I think it depends on how it's all set up, really. You know, these uh these gigs can be set up in different ways, you know. If sometimes the websites can be a bit uh badly designed. But when they're when they're okay, you know, it's not too bad setting them up. Getting them getting to them can be uh a little bit of aggro sometimes. I haven't I haven't been to a lot, but it was a bit of a bit of an annoyance getting to them a couple of times. Uh they uh aren't always very clear exactly on the directions as to how to get there. But in the in the end we managed to, but it could have been easier. They tend to be easier to get back from or to get to, really. Yeah. I think for me personally, it would depend a lot on the circumstances. It would be who would I be there with and where I would be in relation to the people performing. It's all s it's all sorts of little factors involved.

Phil P 15:20

Who's the best person you've ever seen?

Jonathan 15:26

I've seen Paul McCartney twice. I've seen the um Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds performance, and I've seen Rod Stewart. I'm trying to remember if I've seen any more, but those are the ones that jump out at me. I recall out of the two times I saw the Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, I think I preferred it the first time. And I think I'm trying to remember the difference between the two times I saw Paul McCartney. I think one of the times I I saw the I was at the Paul McCartney one, there was there was uh a bit of a drop guy near me who was making a bit of a a thing. Yeah, he really wanted Paul McCartney to play Marlowe Kinty. I was with my parents and that that helps me cope a bit more. I I feel I feel better when I'm sort of with my parents since uh you know they're my parents, you know. If I was there by myself I it would be mixed. The independence would be nice, but then uh not having anyone to sort of fall back on when things get a bit uh tough to deal with would be difficult.

Carol 16:54

Uh one time uh I went with my family somewhere in London. We went to the ukulele Greatest Orch Orchestra Orchestra.

Phil P 17:05

Oh, you can play the Orchestra of Great Britain. Yeah.

Carol 17:07

And they played like a verity of different songs. And um some of some of like the songs were made into like it was funny how they were like uh vocalizing it in different ways. Um but there was not a lot of people, there was probably around 200 to 100. Um and I at the end I got some merch from um the the ukulele band and overall it was funny but good. But like fantastic.

Phil P 17:48

And did you buy the did you buy the ticket for that? Or did your parents buy the ticket for that?

Carol 17:53

My dad bought it.

Phil P 17:54

Because a lot of people say they don't go to concerts because they find the tickets prohibitive, like you know, you get that thing t counting you down when you're in the checkout. It starts like that gives you like three minutes to actually finish the purchase, otherwise you lose your tickets. And a lot of people can't deal with that being counted down, it makes them panic.

Andrea 18:18

And on the horizon of the tickets, do you find like going to concerts too expensive or do you think quite reasonable? How much did you pay for your how much was your Paul McCartney tickets? Can you remember?

Jonathan 18:33

I can't really remember how much the tickets cost. But whenever cost is involved, it is always sort of a factor. Even if I even if I can afford it, it always makes me think whether it's sort of like worth it, you know? Just like will it be worth the cost? Like I can afford it, but you know, but will I return from it thinking, mm, maybe I could have spent that on something else, maybe? It depends. It's it's it's kind of it's kind of always a thing with me and everything that costs. The higher it costs, the more I just like get into this thing where I just rethink it and I have to fight to sort of do it.

Andrea 19:14

How much would you pay to go and watch a gig the most you would pay for a ticket?

Jonathan 19:22

I think that would depend entirely on if it was one of your favourites, it was their last ever tour.

Andrea 19:31

How much would you pay to see Queen now of Freddie Mercury?

Jonathan 19:35

Well that would be interesting because he's been dead for quite a while now.

Phillip R 19:40

Um yeah I went to see Lani Ritchie at Wembley with a carer, and it was absolutely wonderful. I went mad. All the songs, like all night long, you know, hello. And it was I there was a lot of people up there and I really enjoyed. And I had a good time.

Andrea 20:07

What's that like being with all those thousands of people that were singing the same song as you?

Phillip R 20:11

Oh, it's marvellous, it was very good. I really had a good No, it's it is one of my favourite singers here, Lani Ritchie. And it was it was very good, I really enjoyed it. I've been to a live concert before, but Lani Ritchie is very good.

Phil P 20:26

Have you seen anybody else?

Phillip R 20:27

Um No, I haven't, no.

Phil P 20:30

How long ago was that?

Phillip R 20:33

About ten years ago or twenty years ago.

Phil P 20:35

Twenty years ago, yeah.

SPEAKER_12 20:39

Um in the cinema they always stick s the disabled people at the back, which is really annoying. So I tend to go to the front and try and transfer in the chairs, which is very awkward because the chairs flip up. So it's a bit awkward, but I manage, but that's if someone has problems transferring that's gonna be an issue, but it's so annoying that you have to go at the back to watch the why why should you be stuck at the back? It's like when I went to another um um what's it? Um there was a performance at Harrow Arts Centre, and um they put the all the disabled people right at the back, which is not really fair. So I went, I mean, we were in our own seats and that, obviously, because this we're not in the wheelchair, but what it was is they were right at the back, and I thought that was very unfair. And you can't really see the performances because people are in front of you because you're down there and they're in front of you, so you're seeing the performances, but you're seeing people's heads, so it's a bit of a nuisance with that. And um, um booking um I don't know about I've never been to a concert to be fair. I just can't be bothered because it's too much hassle, and I get cross the phobic as well. I don't like to be too much crowd. Up and stuck together. I just it's not me. I just I get anxiety issues with when I'm in um in a in a in a closed in space, anxiety issues basically, and it's why did I have to stick you right at the back as well? And on top of that, it's very expensive as they're not cheap. I mean you get a discount, but not that much discount, to be fair. And another thing that I don't get as well is uh when you go to the cinema, how does this work? You got a carer goes in free, and you've got to pay the disabled person has to pay the full price. How does that work? Now, if you want it to go on your own, you gotta pay the full price. What's that about? That doesn't make sense, it's backwards. So if I want you to go to the cinema on my own, not everybody has carers, you have to pay the full price. But if you go with your carer, the carer goes free and you have to pay your full price. How does that work? That doesn't make sense. But a care, not everybody wants to go with their carer, some people just go on their own. I go on my own. So I've still got no choice to pay the whole price.

Phil P 23:03

That's really annoying. So you've never been to a concert? Never, never.

SPEAKER_12 23:07

No, never. No, never been to a concert.

Andrea 23:10

Who would you like to go and see though?

SPEAKER_12 23:12

Uh Beyoncé.

Phil P 23:14

But what are the chances of you going to see Beyonce? Because you it sounds to me like you've got a lot of hurdles to get over. Like you've got the price, yeah. The actual accessibility.

SPEAKER_12 23:24

Yeah, and then you're stuck at the back as well. Always stuck at the back. They always shove you at the back, don't they? It's like a football match though, innit? I f I see some people in the football match that they shove you at the back. Some people go to it and they always stick the disabled people at the back. It's like, oh yeah, just shove them at the back. That's what I find anyway. Even in the um cinema as well. If you want to go cinema. Anyway, I'm cheeky because what I do, I try and I don't sit where there's designated disabled um spaces. I transfer to the chair, and I I have to struggle or transfer it into the chair, and then I leave the chair there. Sort of, but I have to struggle to transfer into those seats because they're not very easy because they flip up and they're quite small as well.

Phil P 24:10

You're a cinema rebel.

Gila 24:18

And now it's time for Po the Reborona.

Carol 24:24

Hello, my name is Carol and today I'll be reading a poem called Lonely Life Left Behind Lonely Life like a soul left behind. A stage is wide with puppets of people out of sight. A piano plays by itself reflecting the spotlight. A soul lost in time, its secrets and fears left behind. A stage empty and hollow from the light fading out of sight, an endless suffering of a lonely life, choosing a side between life or death lost in time of something left behind, a lonely life left behind by Carol.

Phil P 25:14

Well done, Carol, that was lovely.

SPEAKER_08 25:17

Carol, that was very good, thank you. What do you think of that poem?

Carol 25:23

So I was in a class a few weeks ago at Community Focus, and we were writing poems, and um uh I got the inspiration from a picture um of uh it was like a picture of a yeah, I think it was an empty room, and um then we had to write a poem about that and how it makes us feel. So I decided to um write a poem about a lonely life left behind. It's basically presenting a stage with people uh but you can't see them, and there's like a spotlight with like a piano playing by itself, so the piano kind of presents music as it presents like people being by themselves, and where it says between life or death, it's basically talking about um life and death, like heaven and hell, and which choose which l um side you're gonna choose between that.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

This is my poem by Babak. It is by Babak, it's called Sunset of Flowers, Spring Flowers. The flowers are very nice, and people join the flowers. People smell the flowers. I think people like to smell the flowers, and people join like having laughs and talking about the flowers. I love flowers because bring nature to the garden and people like to smell the flowers. And people like to buy flowers to make them happy. The end. Uh was my idea as was I love flowers because I got to the park and people enjoyed themselves and they got garden centers, and I just thought about the idea about flowers. I pick flowers, and my mum picks flowers, I pick flowers. I just like flowers because my mum's like a poet. She writes books for people, she's a poet. So my mum bust loves flowers. She likes flowers and it makes her happy, and so that's why I'm there for to get flowers for thank you for listening to our podcast.

Gila 27:54

If you like what you're listening to, please like, share, spread the podcast amongst your friends. Um and subscribe or give us a follow. And if you have any ideas, please get in touch. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Community focused, community focused, we're here for you with me and you on the hour.

Phillip R 28:34

I want to do At five talk. The footcast food.

SPEAKER_13 28:44

A weekend with you. We're here for you, yes, hoy!