Dorset and Hampshire Galavanting (and the accessibility of it)

For mine and Em’s four year anniversary (not our wedding anniversary, just the date of when we became girlfriends for the first time), we decided to spend the day in and around Dorset. The main part of the day was spent in Bournemouth, whilst the day ended in Lymington, and we had a fab time! But each aspect of the day had some accessibility feature that is worth reviewing, so here goes!

Bournemouth Oceanarium

We absolutely love the Oceanarium in Bournemouth, as not only is it an aquarium (so what’s not to love!) but it has three of my special interest animals in it! It has otters (which are also a special animal for Em and I), penguins, and an axolotl called strawberry – and going to Bournemouth was the first time I had ever seen an axolotl in real life!!! I cried, genuinely, and did the happy flaps (proud little autistic here). So, this was the perfect destination to chose for our anniversary date, of course! Where else would be so perfect when it’s so filled with joy? Exactly. So, we toddled off there, as two wheelchair users… but of course as two autistic wheelchair users, we’re bound to run into some access flaws, so here’s what we faced at the Oceanarium access wise:

Pros

• Normal tickets are financially accessible
• Enough room for wheelchairs in cafe and shop
• Sensory areas

Cons

• Small lift
• Steps in front of exhibits
• Heavy doors
• Carer prices inaccessible to unpaid carers

So starting with the good, the normal tickets are financially accessible, with the most expensive being only £15. If you went to other big name aquariums you could be paying 3x the price for the exact same exhibitions (if even less diverse) so this is a really good price and more accessible to families and people on low income. Another good point is the layout of the shop and cafe – all of the tables and displays are far enough apart from each other which is really helpful for wheelchair users as we can easily get through them – this is particularly good for people with big powerchairs (I have a larger powerchair) as they can struggle to fit into the spaces people make for typical NHS wheelchairs when they are not the norm. Access for some is not accessibility. The aquarium also had sensory areas including the abyss and what I think is classed as the children’s area but anyone would be welcome. There are areas you can sit and colour too if you need a break.

However, there were some issues that need to be solveed in order to achieve true accessibility. The lift is incredibly small in the oceanarium, to the point my chair struggled to fit in – my old chair only just fit in, but my new chair was scraping the sides getting in, and though my powerchair is on the larger side, there are still powerchairs much larger than mine – what would they do? I also was sad as there was steps in front of some of the exhibits – this meant we couldn’t get up close to them (especially those you were meant to, that had very small fish etc) and we missed out on some, which is sad. I also just want to mention how heavy the doors are – I have a talent for kicking doors in front of us through as when no-one is there to open them for you you have no other choice, but right now my ankle is damaged from a severe dislocation so if we went when I had a poorly ankle there’s no way I could’ve kicked the doors – plus they were tough ones anyway! They just were not very accessible at all, there was no consideration for wheelchair users. We also booked our tickets as a disabled and a carer but this is something we had an issue with when we arrived – my wife is my unpaid carer but when we arrived we tried to show them our PIP and alike as evidence but they would not take this – they wanted official documentation stating Em was my carer; they accepted as a one off but told us we would next time need ‘proper proof’ like evidence of pay etc – a lose for unpaid carers! Em’s only evidence is the Disability ID Carer’s card as an unpaid carer and we cannot afford paid carers (and due to my c-PTSD and autism I struggle to trust/bond with anyone outside of the family due to trust issues; I either trust too quick and easily or not at all and there is no in between!)

So the Oceanarium had its ups and its downs for sure, there were definitely some disability considerations but you could also quote ignorance too.

Bournemouth Pier

Moving onto the Bournemouth Pier, this had a mix of both good and bad access features too, so i’ll get right onto them!

Pros

• Air con good for cooling down
• Many prizes in arcade penny machines
• Prize every time on the pier= more accessible games
• Don’t have to pay to get on it = financially accessible

Cons

• Big gaps between slats = dangerous for w/cs with slim wheel
• Helter skelter = lowkey fatphobic
• Main arcade is cash only which most people don’t carry and machine is far away = inaccessible expecting people to take a trip if you want to take money out to play the attractions

As soon as you get to the pier’s entrance, you go into the main arcade and as soon as you step in you are greeted by the most amazing air con. On a hot day having somewhere to go to cool you down that is free is just amazing so what a treat! However, most of the games in the arcade were cash only games and when I asked where a withdrawal machine was I was directed somewhere very distant. For anyone who may have to walk or who can’t tolerate the heat even in a wheelchair, this isn’t ideal – it doesn’t take much to install a cash or contactless machine in the arcade as most places have now! However, for anyone playing the arcade games, there were a tonne of prizes that were easy to win so this was quite accessible. Speaking of accessible prizes, at the end of the pier were prize every time games, meaning if you played them you would win. This is easier for disabled people and financially more accessible, and also appeals to families who want to win prizes for their kids. As well as this being financially accessible, the pier in general was financially accessible too, being a free of charge attraction.

However, on the pier the slats between the wood were quite large; as a wheelchair user I was quite fearful that my wheels would go between the slats and I would lose balance and topple over! I was perfectly safe in the end but that was just a fear of mine, silly me, and I also found another aspect unsuitable for me; as a plus sized person when I saw the helter skelter I was perfectly nostalgic until I saw the sheer width of the slide – I fear I wouldn’t fit my pinkie down it! It was so tiny.

So the pier had things to improve on for sure, but had a lot going for it – especially as such an old, classic attraction – I think it was just doing its best.

Lymington Sea Water Baths

We’re currently doing a Swim For Dementia challenge, raising money for the Alzheimer’s Society so we could have gone in the sea but it wouldn’t have counted how far we swam, so we found a Lido around roughly around the area we were and we had a blast trying out a new pool! Here’s the tea on my experience using it as a disabled human!

Pros

• Steps really gradual – easy to ease into
• Seats at each side of lane swimming – able to not only stop and regulate

Cons

• Ramp = more like a mound
• Shower seat too high
• Shower on the wall
• Gate too heavy

So, it turns out, it’s actually really easy to get into the pool at the salt water baths in Lymington!!! The gradual stairs with railings work out to be super accessible for anyone who is able to walk short distances (obviously, scrap this if you can’t walk at all) as they are small steps, it’s easy to one by one lower yourself slowly into a shallow, lukewarm body of water and this is perfect for people like me (ambulatory wheelchair users). Also, due to being disabled, when we swim, at the end of each length I need to take a break and also, I really like that our local pool is shallow at both ends as it is more accessible for me from the POV that when I need to stop to take breaks, it is easier, so when I found out that there was a seat at each end of this pool, this took accessibility to the next level. This meant that I could perch between lengths perfectly and I was honestly so chuffed!

On the other hand, the salt baths did have more cons than pros from an access perspective – it wasn’t the most accessible. They did have a good disabled changing room and shower but it was like an absolute greenhouse when you were inside it because of how it was built, and the entry to it was… questionable; they had a ‘ramp’ for wheelchair users and anyone who needs a gradual entry, but it was not a ramp – it was a mound. It was also very close to the pool so when I left the changing rooms I was worried I’d splash straight into it due to the precarious nature of it! The changing rooms had some other disability focused features that were maybe not thought about the best; they had a shower seat which is amazing but it was just too high! This made it, by nature, inaccessible! I needed to use the shower but couldn’t sit down so couldn’t which was a shame. Also, the shower was a tiny head, high up on the wall, meaning it hardly reached you, especially if you were using the shower seat – not the best! The gate was also too heavy, and i’ve already written something about this when talking about the Oceanarium.

Honestly, the Sea Water Baths were amazing but we did face a few wee challenges there!

Solento Lounge

We love the Lounges franchises and we usually frequent our local ones in Portswood, Fareham or Whiteley (which is actually a new one that’s opened and is lush!) but on our way home we thought we’d stop at the Lounge in Lymington! So, I thought i’d give that a little access review too!

Pros

• Access round the ride, clear! No bins!
• Very on it with allergens, as well as vegan and gluten free options
• Big and clean disabled toilet with good red cord

Cons

• Not step free
• Access round the side of the building
• Access button on door not working
• Have to push door, door heavy
• Tables around the resturant quite narrow

So there were definitely about equal pros and cons from visiting Solento Lounge when thinking about accessibility. I’ll talk about the positives first. I’ll come to this later, but to enter the restuarant in a wheelchair, I had to go round the side – this is usually an unpleasant experience filled with many bin bags and lacking space but in an unusual turn of events, there were no bins, it was well kept, it was a space for wheelchair users to enter the establishment freely without feeling lesser humans! Incredible! The next accessible thing they did was have very clear signage for allergens as well as vegan and gluten free menus offered at the door, with an array of options! This means food was available to most people, yay! It encorporates options for most eating people. And the last accessible thing I noticed was their big and clean disabled toilet with a good, free hanging red cord, what a win! So we have some really great pros there.

However, there were some negatives to the Lounge, including that it wasn’t step free. Obviously a side entrance is fab, but a front, step free entrance is nicer. This meant, as I said, disabled access was round the side of the building. Also, this disabled access door had an access button, but the button didn’t work, so I had to push a heavy door to get in – obviously I’ve had my say on heavy doors, so this isn’t very accessible, and makes the accessibility of the button useless (please fix this Solento Lounge!). The last issue I had with the lounge was that the tables around the resturant were quite narrow so it was quite hard to navigate my wheelchair around – this meant that getting to the toilet was difficult, as was manouvering out.

We had a lovely time at Solento Lounge but there were some access challenges which made our date night a little bit more difficult to navigate!

Home time!

So, that’s my accessibility review of these lovely places in Dorset and Hampshire – we truly had an amazing day on our anniversary and I would go back to all of these places, none of the access fails were so severe that they prevented me from such, but they did impact our day as you can see, and that is why good accessibility is so important.

I hope you are all well and have no struggles with access yourself!

Love always,
Laur xxx