When organising a conference called Open To All by 2012 espousing the benefits of making your hotel fully accessible for the Olympics in London it's good to book a venue that's beyond reproach.
Alas, although the London Development Agency (LDA) organised event last week in the capital was inspiring and informative in equal measure, the venue, the Royal Society for Arts off the Strand, was to put it simply, a bit of a pig for the disabled delegates and speakers to navigate.
As the venue for a conference on disability this is about as appropriate as the decision by officials in Australia to dedicate a swimming pool to former Prime Minister Harold Holt who drowned in 1967.
On the day of the conference it prompted Sarah Ebanja, deputy chief executive of the LDA, to apologise unreservedly to attendees just after the morning coffee break for booking the venue in the first place, which is admirable in a way.
This did however throw Kitchen Rat off kilter as we'd been presuming the choice of venue was a deliberate ploy to highlight how far London still has to go to deliver the most accessible Games ever as envisioned by mayor Boris Johnson. Bugger.
Boris Johnson: hardworking mayor of London>>
Comments (1)
Hi Mr Rat - I checked this story out with the LDA and they categorically denied it, saying the RSA was wheelchair-friendly and the only apology was for wheelchair users having to go further than walking delegates for a coffee. Fair comment, or are they being economical with the truth, do you think?
Posted by Steve Bleach | October 8, 2008 3:29 PM
Posted on October 8, 2008 15:29