Equality, choice and Integration for all United’s fans

Now that the new ground is back with us I have been writing to Mr Kassam to get some assurances that will enable me (and other wheelchair users) to anticipate the opening with the same fervour that all other United fans can.

People keep telling me that nothing can be as bad as what we have to put up with at The Manor. That’s true – but there is nothing more frustrating than a new venture with limited choice and limited integration, all because of limited political will! This is my big fear about the new stadium, and I have written to Mr Kassam asking for sight of the plans so as to reassure me that this is not the case.

I have had a couple of short replies where he asks me to be assured that ‘…special considerations have been made for wheelchair supporters’. Unfortunately, my experiences in the past mean that I cannot, and will not, ‘rest assured’ that the new stadium will afford me the same choices and facilities that you and all other fans will enjoy, simply because I use a wheelchair. We don’t need ‘special considerations’ – they should be the same for all people irrespective of ability. Mr Kassam also says that ‘…the stadium is too far advanced to make any changes..’ I’ve been writing letters to the club for the past seven years to try to get them to ensure everyone has the opportunity to enjoy all the facilities on offer to the fullest.

People that know me personally know that I am not a person with a ‘chip on my shoulder’. I say this because anybody that speaks up for their rights from a position that is not in the mainstream of opinion often suffers this or even more unfriendly accusations. I am simply a person that campaigns for the same rights and facilities that everyone else demands and expects as the norm. However, because I use a wheelchair I am expected to sit quietly and put up with what is offered – and be grateful for it!

I accept that it is unrealistic to expect to sit anywhere in the ground. All I am asking for is integration with other fans, and a choice of low level, mid level and high level viewing options – integrated into all stands and protected from the weather. All these ‘seats’ can be used by all fans if needed – it is just vital that they are available if needed by someone who uses a wheelchair.

We are moving into the 21st Century and I still go to The Manor with my friends and have a drink – and then I am forced to leave them before the match to head off to the ‘disabled enclosure’. Here I join all the other unfortunate souls that, simply because they rely on a wheelchair for mobility, have to suffer the indignity of being grouped together in the corner; forced to sit outside the Manor Club toilets with the air vent from the loos pouring out the after-effects of a couple of pints into our nostrils and over our clothes.

We sit under a roof with gaping holes in it so people in the Manor Club can see the corner flag. Forced to sit together, separated from ‘normality’ by a metal gate and stewards insisting that I can only have ‘one carer’ with me! A carer – what the hell is that! I go to football with my mates, family and friends, not friggin’ carers! Yes of course some people need carers, but just because they happen to sit in the same mode of transport as I do does not make my needs the same as theirs! Should everyone with grey hair be grouped together in one part of the stand (the Beech Rd is an exception!)? Everyone’s needs should be accommodated, but do not assume that everyone’s needs and desires are the same simply because they use a wheelchair!

This misconception is all down to the labels society allocates to those seen as not fitting the norm, and enabling society the ability to deal with them and operate at the lowest level of intellect. The wheelchair is the symbolic statement that is ‘The Disabled’. It is easy to see everyone in a wheelchair as a ‘disabled person’ and with this comes the attitudinal travesty associated with it. It allows Society to take the easiest (and cheapest) options and make rules that cover ‘The Disabled’; rules that always counter for the lowest possible denominator and puts the blame on the individual rather than the more costly option. Everyone suffers as a consequence.

My wheelchair frees me from my disability – I am not disabled because of it! In my experience it is society’s attitudes that disable me: the steps into the shops; pubs; restaurants; buses; trains; the design of public loo’s…. This is all down to society’s inability and unwillingness to cope with difference and it’s fear of that difference. It is summed up by the attitudes of the authorities that expect me to settle for a place in the corner, rather than sitting with my friends, and they just cannot see why I would question it. It is this that disables me, and makes me a ‘Disabled Person’. As such, it is in everyone’s power to enable people.

The new stadium should ‘enable’ all the people that use it. It should accommodate all and offer facilities for all to enjoy equally. Architects are here to design all-encompassing solutions and not simply to design for the majority and add some token accommodation for wheelchair users. Yes things are improving but still in a very limiting way. I will probably be able to sit somewhere along the front of all three stands in the new ground, rather than just in a corner. I may be able to sit with more than one ‘carer’! But will I have the choice of a mid or high level – and consequently be protected from the weather – in all the stands? Will I be able to access all parts of the ground? Will I be integrated among all the fans? I doubt it. Will I hear the excuse that ‘you can’t go there because you are a fire risk’ or ‘it’s for your own safety’? I expect I will! These attitudes have to change.

The fans I am talking about are real people – real fans dedicated to the club. I am an ex-London Roader from the ’70s. My biggest concern after my accident was the fact that I was going to miss the pre-season friendly against Reading! There was no one more fanatical about my team than me, or so I thought. Well, some of the people I sit with are.

Despite the appalling facilities we have to put up with, there is a hard core of fans that come to The Manor in their wheelchairs week in week out, a good proportion of whom travel to away games despite all the barriers that are put in their way to do so. You think it’s hard being an away fan? Try attending away matches in a wheelchair! We have to suffer at The Manor and sit with away fans, only to travel away and be forced to sit with the home fans. Away travel requires so much meticulous planning, and often begging with the officials to let you in.

It’s not only at games like Macclesfield that you are confronted with warnings like those in United’s match day magazine when offering advice to fans wishing to travel to the Macclesfield game ‘…there are no facilities for wheelchair users…’ I had to beg with a steward at Anfield to let me in to watch United every time we played there. Each time I got in I felt degraded and patronised (and also endured the 6-0, 4-0 and 2-0 scorelines!). Anfield is one of many examples. Fourteen years on and I still find myself campaigning for equal rights to the facilities on offer for all other fans!

I ask any of you: would you put up with such treatment? As long as we allow this to happen people in wheelchairs will be separate from the norm and continue to suffer. Please help me ensure that the new ground enables all supporters to enjoy the full benefits on offer; help me ensure that it does not disable people simply because they use a wheelchair.

Please email Rage Online with your views on this (and any other)issue at comment@rageonline.co.uk