I have been working for my company now for about 3 years, and thankfully I am seen like my abled colleagues as a valued employee for 364 days of the year.

But ONE night a year, and not by fault of the company I work for but those of the restaurants and bars that host us…. I and many other disabled employees, miss out on enjoying ourselves with our fellow workmates.  

Many places sadly put their private function areas upstairs and even sadder, they don’t think of adding a stair lift or even a mini lift that fits a wheelchair and maybe one standing person… it is as though they think a disabled person wouldn’t want to or shouldn’t go to work!

But we do and we should get to go, we have worked just as hard as our abled-bodied colleagues and like them, we want to celebrate that hard-earned work in style!

Making sure your event venue is wheelchair accessible, has many advantages including parents with prams who will also likely use your venue and people who may not need a wheelchair, but may rely on a cane (the elderly or the injured).  So including the disabled also includes many other society members that may not use your venue otherwise.

I am hoping in the future that legislation will move in our favour and ALL buildings will be wheelchair accessible and EVERYONE will be able to go places with ease and no stress.

*Edit to add, after my colleague received many confirmations in response to our work do, she had to find a new venue. This new venue turned out to be very wheelchair accessible. Unfortunately, I fell ill and couldn’t attend, but heard much feedback from my colleagues and Support staff who attended on the night.  

About the author: 

I am a 42-year-old man, who is born and raised in New Zealand. I have PHACES Syndrome which is very rare (there are only around 5 of us in NZ and I am the oldest we know of here), this affects my brain, senses, muscles, nervous system, vascular system, as well as the skeleton and connective tissue.

I have a Certificate in Social Services (Biculturalism), which helps me in my advocacy work, but I would love to work with children with special education needs. I write poetry, short stories and have written a song. I also paint and play a strong part in my Church community. I love knitting and music, anything related to space and cats, and my favourite show is Star Trek.