Blind Hammer provides the first of a two part feedback on the West Ham Accessibility Forum for Disabled and Visually Impaired Supporters.
The Accessibility Forum at the Legends Bar at the Boleyn on Monday 11th April was really composed of two parts. Firstly there were some discussions of some internal West Ham Accessibility issues and then the Goalkeeping Team of Adrian, Chris Woods and Darren Randolph joined us for a question and answer session on football issues.
As the discussions were very different I will first of all feedback on the Accessibility session and retain the description of the Goalkeeping Team session for Part 2.
First of all I have to extend thanks to Safehands from West Ham Till I Die who provided skilled and sensitive guiding throughout the evening for me and my Guide Dog, Nyle. Safehands is certainly a compelling and powerful physical presence and I felt like a Babe in Arms. I was certainly in Safe Hands.
The other thing to stress is that it is a hugely positive thing that West Ham are organising these forums to receive feedback. In the nature of feedback there will inevitably be criticisms but at least by organising a forum like this West Ham will have a mechanism through which they can address issues and improve the support they provide to Disabled and Visually Impaired supporters.
According to Safehands there were over 30 people attending the Forum. Apart from me there were two other supporters with Guide Dogs. I spoke to people who had a range of disabilities and there were some Wheelchair users as well as some other people using mobility aids. I met Cathy Bayford who along with Safehands is on the West Ham Supporters Advisory Board. I also met a friend, Dennis, who I had not seen since 1998.
There was discussion of the vexed question of commentary headset supply for visually impaired supporters both before and after the meeting. The West Ham Accessibility Team reported that the club had made an email appeal to users of the service and this had apparently succeeded in the return of 18 units which had greatly reduced the problems of headset scarcity. However many of us were faced with a total lock out of the commentary service at the Arsenal game where supporters, me included, were only able to hear commentary up until Arsenal had gone 2-0 up. Frustratingly we missed Carroll’s 9 minute hat trick blitz of the Arsenal defence. The technical reason for this black out was apparently a conflict with the broadcasting frequencies used by the Television companies. Efforts will be made to ensure this is not repeated in the future.
The club are reluctant to introduce a deposit scheme in relation to headset supply for 2 reasons.
1. They considered that such a move would conflict with the Equality Act.
2. They did not want their Accessibility staff to be involved in the collection of monies.
Although I am not a legal practitioner I do hold a legal qualification and have a relatively deep knowledge of Equality Law. I was surprised by the concern raised as I thought it would be easy for the measure to past the test of proportionality and would certainly comply with the requirement of legitimate aim, being the provision of a secure supply of headsets for visually impaired supporters. Importantly this would not be a charge but a fully refundable deposit.
I think this may be an issue where the club may be reassured on concerns about contravening Equality Law, certainly I would recommend seeking formal legal advice.
I made several suggestions as to how to receive deposits and perhaps these suggestions can be carried forward to arrangements in the new Stadium. In the new stadium the service will become at least partly the responsibility of the Stadium operators, though West Ham will have a role in providing actual commentaries. It sounds like the exact boundaries of responsibilities have not been fully negotiated yet.
Chris, another visually impaired supporter, complained of staff attitude where he has been told that he has the last headset and if anything goes wrong he has to put up with it. He also complained that the commentary service starts only a minute before kick-off giving no time to react to headsets malfunction. This would be resolved if the headset broadcast was activated earlier, even if it is only transmitting the background of the pre match stadium music and announcements. this would enable visually impaired supporters to identify if their headset is not working and seek assistance before the match starts.
Sophie Bradley, West Ham’s PR and Communications Manager, said the club would take note of Chris’s comments.
James Datson, the West Ham Commentator, pointed out that despite the problems there is a lot to be proud of with the West Ham service. We were one of the first clubs ever to introduce this support for visually impaired supporters and it has run reliably now for 15 years.
I raised another point in relation to the Accessibility of the main wwww.whufc.com website. Some parts of the site are impossible for a blind person to access using a screen reader.
Sophie said the club was aware of issues with the accessibility of the website and that actually new Premier League rules coming in means that the club will be compelled to work with the website developers anyway to improve accessibility. West Ham are committed to providing an inclusive website allowing all supporters to access information.
One supporter, Paul, was unhappy with his migration from the Boleyn to the OS, especially in relation to his needs as a wheelchair user. He felt his seat in the OS will be significantly inferior to the seat he currently enjoys . Sophie said that she would be looking in detail at Paul’s concerns but said it had to be acknowledged that with the migration service the club may not be able, despite best efforts, to satisfy everybody.
This is only my impression of the Forum, and not detailed minutes. The fact, as stated earlier, that West Ham organised this Forum is a hugely positive step. Despite the problems that I and others have identified, I nevertheless came away hopeful that West Ham are genuinely committed to working to make our club accessible to all their supporters .
COYI
David Griffith