Vapefest

[clairea]

I loved vapefest yesterday and had a fab time meeting everyone from here. but I have a little gripe. 

As a wheelchair user it wasn't very disabled friendly, when I arrived there was no direction on where to park, the disabled loo's had no loo roll in them had to get husband to go and get some from the mens, but that was corrected when i spoke to one of the organisers.

Due to the vast number of people that came in all at once, a lot of the tents then became inaccessible to me. some of the tents were to small that i wouldn't have been able to move around had i got inside them, and if i had attempted to i would have hurt people by running them over with my chair. Some of the tents had metal poles in front of them hard to get over. Some of the tents had wooden steps in front of them. Impossible to get over. 

A lot of people don't even notice someone in a chair, so they just push round you, and barge in front of you and ignore you, a lot of that happened yesterday, A lot of vendors were to busy to notice someone in a chair. especially when they had a queue of 5 in front of you and couldn't see you. 

A few of the vendors came out when you couldn't get in to the tents or noticed you were there and bent over backwards to help you. I think about half didn't notice. but that was down to being so busy i think. 

some of the tents were put up on a kind of ridge and the rain then pooled in huge deep puddles in front of the ridge making it impossible for me to get through without damaging the motor on my chair. the venue fault not anyone elses.

I got absolutely drenched when one of the tents decided to deposit the entire roof's water on me. I think someone tried to fix the roof and didn't see me there, I can laugh about it but wasn't very nice at the time and these things happen.  Luckily i had the foresight to bring a change of clothes with me even though i wasn't camping, but the cushion on my chair is still drying out luckily i have a spare. 

It would be nice for future events, if wheelchair and disabled people with walking and standing issues, Could have say half an hour head start before the crowds hit, to give us a chance to see the vendors,(once everyone had finished setting up)  I missed out on about half of them because i couldn't get in or couldn't get noticed. 

Basically i managed to see about half the vendors i wanted to see, because of the above, but it didn't stop me having a fantastic time. but it would be nice for future events if people like me could get a bit of a head start. 

Luckily the food stands were to high for me to get seen, were to expensive anyway and the food didn't look to good, I had my hubby with me who got me drinks from the bar, I would bring a picnic next time. 

[Deleted]

Hey Clare really sorry to hear that. If our stalls (Custom Vapes, P Vapor, Ruthless) was one of those that you had difficulty in getting to then I can't apologise enough. I'll get everyone on our team to be a little more proactive in future with these in mind.

[clairea]

i didn't get into that one, but thank you for thinking about next year,

[Montana]

Aug 3, 2014 13:32:13 GMT clairea said:

I loved vapefest yesterday and had a fab time meeting everyone from here. but I have a little gripe. 

As a wheelchair user it wasn't very disabled friendly, when I arrived there was no direction on where to park, the disabled loo's had no loo roll in them had to get husband to go and get some from the mens, but that was corrected when i spoke to one of the organisers.

Due to the vast number of people that came in all at once, a lot of the tents then became inaccessible to me. some of the tents were to small that i wouldn't have been able to move around had i got inside them, and if i had attempted to i would have hurt people by running them over with my chair. Some of the tents had metal poles in front of them hard to get over. Some of the tents had wooden steps in front of them. Impossible to get over. 

A lot of people don't even notice someone in a chair, so they just push round you, and barge in front of you and ignore you, a lot of that happened yesterday, A lot of vendors were to busy to notice someone in a chair. especially when they had a queue of 5 in front of you and couldn't see you. 

A few of the vendors came out when you couldn't get in to the tents or noticed you were there and bent over backwards to help you. I think about half didn't notice. but that was down to being so busy i think. 

some of the tents were put up on a kind of ridge and the rain then pooled in huge deep puddles in front of the ridge making it impossible for me to get through without damaging the motor on my chair. the venue fault not anyone elses.

I got absolutely drenched when one of the tents decided to deposit the entire roof's water on me. I think someone tried to fix the roof and didn't see me there, I can laugh about it but wasn't very nice at the time and these things happen.  Luckily i had the foresight to bring a change of clothes with me even though i wasn't camping, but the cushion on my chair is still drying out luckily i have a spare. 

It would be nice for future events, if wheelchair and disabled people with walking and standing issues, Could have say half an hour head start before the crowds hit, to give us a chance to see the vendors,(once everyone had finished setting up)  I missed out on about half of them because i couldn't get in or couldn't get noticed. 

Basically i managed to see about half the vendors i wanted to see, because of the above, but it didn't stop me having a fantastic time. but it would be nice for future events if people like me could get a bit of a head start. 

Luckily the food stands were to high for me to get seen, were to expensive anyway and the food didn't look to good, I had my hubby with me who got me drinks from the bar, I would bring a picnic next time. 

Sorry to hear that , I did say ( in another thread ) that disabled people should have been put at the front, but the same would have happened, so your idea of early access is perfect in my opinion.I spent one Christmas time pushing my mum around in a wheelchair and people are still dreadful in this country.Even though I was pushing my mum most of the time, people still didn't seem to see her in the chair , WTF is that about , then you get the condescending tw@'s that say something like "Is she ok" , does she need help" etc etc etc

Disabled people get a rough time of things , so why not early access , it's not as though it would have made a difference to everyone else.You get a lot of people that are so rude even when you're able bodied too because they think it's their right to go straight to the front and grab the freebies and stuff everyone else.

Andy

[Pepperty]

oh I know what you mean about the tent deluge clairea I foolishly stood at the edge of one tent and got a massive soaking! Luckily it was during a hot spell so I was glad of the cool down but I can imagine it would have been hard for you to get in some tents, it was packed all day long

There was the biggest puddle lake in front of Vapourart and I wanted a driptip, I almost bellowed "I want to spend money, which member of staff wants to carry me over?" but none of the staff looked musclebound enough to heft my bulk so I had to take a diddy jump over at the narrowest part (3 shops down) It didn't take me long to blow another tenner.....

I'm just gutted I didn't bring a pair of my spheroids as I bought replacement v2.5 bases and cant get them apart, may have to wait another year and get a beefy forum member onto them!

[Greg]

Pepperty have you got the little fork to take the base off, I'm sure you know there left hand threaded so opposite way to normal to unscrew

Maybe hold the base with vape grip or a laggy band, or maybe you've done all that and it's just damn tight

[jeffc]

Pepperty Have sent you a PM.

[clairea]

i wanted to get some drip tips as well but couldn't get near them
i know the weather was nothing to do with the organisers, and could do nothing about the rain or the lakes that appeared just made it even harder though, but did managed to get a siegeli, then popped into see Jason and got a nautilus, wanted another tank but also noticed the one i wanted only one vendor had and the price was almost double of what i can get it from on the online.

It's not that i was after 200 free goody bags lol, just would have liked the chance to view things like drip tips etc that i couldn't get near. I did manage to get a few goody bags from vendors walking around, or those that would come out and notice me.

But you are so right Montana they don't notice you in a chair and look straight through you, or treat you like a second class citizen. i just don't have the ability to walk run and jump like everyone else, my legs give way if i walk more than 50 metres and i fall a lot, plus the pain gets to much to bare. So I have to use a chair to get around. but even being in the chair makes me stiff and sore, sitting in the same position for to long, so have to stand and move, and then you get people saying well she can stand on her own or even walk (around the chair or short distance) there is nothing wrong with her. Sometimes i can't win.

[Steve (VapeStorm)]

Aug 3, 2014 13:32:13 GMT clairea said:

I loved vapefest yesterday and had a fab time meeting everyone from here. but I have a little gripe. 

As a wheelchair user it wasn't very disabled friendly, when I arrived there was no direction on where to park, the disabled loo's had no loo roll in them had to get husband to go and get some from the mens, but that was corrected when i spoke to one of the organisers.

Due to the vast number of people that came in all at once, a lot of the tents then became inaccessible to me. some of the tents were to small that i wouldn't have been able to move around had i got inside them, and if i had attempted to i would have hurt people by running them over with my chair. Some of the tents had metal poles in front of them hard to get over. Some of the tents had wooden steps in front of them. Impossible to get over. 

A lot of people don't even notice someone in a chair, so they just push round you, and barge in front of you and ignore you, a lot of that happened yesterday, A lot of vendors were to busy to notice someone in a chair. especially when they had a queue of 5 in front of you and couldn't see you. 

A few of the vendors came out when you couldn't get in to the tents or noticed you were there and bent over backwards to help you. I think about half didn't notice. but that was down to being so busy i think. 

some of the tents were put up on a kind of ridge and the rain then pooled in huge deep puddles in front of the ridge making it impossible for me to get through without damaging the motor on my chair. the venue fault not anyone elses.

I got absolutely drenched when one of the tents decided to deposit the entire roof's water on me. I think someone tried to fix the roof and didn't see me there, I can laugh about it but wasn't very nice at the time and these things happen.  Luckily i had the foresight to bring a change of clothes with me even though i wasn't camping, but the cushion on my chair is still drying out luckily i have a spare. 

It would be nice for future events, if wheelchair and disabled people with walking and standing issues, Could have say half an hour head start before the crowds hit, to give us a chance to see the vendors,(once everyone had finished setting up)  I missed out on about half of them because i couldn't get in or couldn't get noticed. 

Basically i managed to see about half the vendors i wanted to see, because of the above, but it didn't stop me having a fantastic time. but it would be nice for future events if people like me could get a bit of a head start. 

Luckily the food stands were to high for me to get seen, were to expensive anyway and the food didn't look to good, I had my hubby with me who got me drinks from the bar, I would bring a picnic next time. 

*warning this post contains a very tasteless, insensitive and offensive Joke. If you feel you may be sensitive to this Do Not Read the rest of the post"

clairea maybe you should stand up (bdum tsh) to the organisers and ask/demand better disabled access. I noticed alot of chair users struggling with the conditions.

Shame we didnt didnt meet but I did spot you at one point

[Pepperty]

Aug 3, 2014 18:15:05 GMT jeffc said:

Pepperty Have sent you a PM.

dear jeff has offered to do for me if I send over to him! HARRAH! another AAEC star   bless him

Sods law, I have 4 spheroids and the pair with v2.5 bases already I CAN undo, but the pair I want to swap over? not a flaming chance and I've tried everything down to the pink marigolds and swearing to craven idols...............

[davetherayon]

A lesson there for the organisers, better disabled access next year please!

[vereybowring]

I wholeheartedly agree there was not enough thought about disabled personages.

Yes I noticed too many people scowling as they almost fell over barging straight towards those in wheelchairs and with sticks.

The marquees should always be bigger than actually required for any event to accommodate the wheelies (sorry, can't help it I suffer from sarcasm/humour leakage).

The off road course (the side with lakes in front of the tents) needed the simple addition of large wooden boards to cross the watery ravine. For that matter I used to regularly attend agricultural shows/highland games and loads of those make sure areas leading from road across to tents have wooden tracks for wheelchairs and have done for many years (plywood is hardly that expensive after all.

Shocking they hadn't checked the facilities to check for loo roll in advance though.

[clairea]

I am hoping this thread has not put ukric and the other organisers off next year, am only trying to help make it better for disabled people, I had a fab time at VF and already looking forward to next year's, please take it as constructive criticism rather than a slur on VF, as it was intended just to be that constructive criticism.
it was the best day out i've had so far this year,