Picnics, parties and parades: A Wellington Pride Festival access guide

When 29% of the Rainbow community is disabled, a festival that isn’t accessible has nothing to be proud about. This year at Wellington Pride Festival (full disclosure, I’m on the board!), we’re really focused on making sure everyone can be included in some way. 

The Festival website allows you to select your accessibility needs to filter events. We’re hoping that, while unfortunately not everything is able to be 100% accessible, providing as much information as possible will make your planning easier. I’m in the lucky position of knowing the programme really well, so I thought I’d share some of my favourites with the D*List readers. If you can’t find the information you need about accessibility for any of the events in the festival, please feel free to get in touch with me directly.

First up is the Wellington Pride Parade (which is a separate organisation from the Wellington Pride Festival). Their accessibility page details how they’re offering spaces for wheelchair users, grandstand seating for those who can’t stand for long periods of time, indoor viewing areas for a front row view without the noise, as well as low density areas and a quiet zone. 

I’m running an event for one particular type of the Rainbow community who’s often invisible despite being hyper visible. Fat Queers Eating Cake is a fat liberation space - a shared meal free from any negative food or body talk nonsense, because there’s tremendous power in being with people who look like you. Yes fats, yes femmes! The hall is wheelchair accessible with an accessible bathroom, sturdy seating is provided and attendees are requested to take a RAT in advance for everyone’s safety. While the event is designed for adults, babies and children are welcome because childcare shouldn’t be a barrier to community either. 

Speaking of young people, Wellington Library is putting on a bunch of events for queer youth, including a session on sign making in advance of the Pride Hīkoi, and all of their venues are wheelchair accessible, with accessible and gender neutral bathrooms and quiet areas available. The Pride Youth Ball for those ages 13-18 is a vibrant celebration about letting your true colors shine in a safe and welcoming space, and a night filled with music, dancing, and pure joy. Of course it’s in an accessible space - and we’re putting on buses to help people get there as well. 

Just want to sit and listen to something cool? The Glamaphones are having an open rehearsal. “We have a range of singing skills, so don’t be shy!” they promise. Meanwhile, if you’d like an NZSL interpreter to join in Jesus Cucking Christ - a queer theology perspective on divine vulnerability, taking place in another church -  they’re happy to arrange one. 

Prefer to stay outside in the ongoing pandemic? Take a free historic walking tour (suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs too, though there is a slight incline) to celebrate the people and movements that fought for a brighter future for rainbow communities. Or alternatively, check out the Fabulous Carmen walk tour in the Cuba Quarter instead. The Coven Beach Party is a free event at Lyall Bay for queer woman, sapphic, trans, gender queer and those who don’t fit the binary, with accessible individual stall bathrooms available by the beach.

If you’re okay with crowds, our biggest event is Out in the City. Be part of our all-day family friendly fair event with over 80 stalls, stage performances, delicious food and drink and a jam-packed day of LGBTQIA+ celebration and vibes. There’s gender neutral accessible bathrooms, paths wide enough for wheelchairs (on concrete, not grass!) and a chill out area if you get overloaded. The next day is the Pride Picnic in the Botanical Gardens, featuring Orchestra Wellington. There’s plenty of space to spread out and enjoy extremely chill vibes. 

And if leaving the house feels like all too much, Creatif Kate’s show The Artist is in her Residence is a digital download that you can watch wherever you like, and it offers captioning, NZSL interpreting, and audio description.

While locals need no reminding of this, it’s worth mentioning that Wellington is hampered by old buildings designed long before disabled and/or queer people were considered to be proper members of society. At two of our queerest venues - Ivy Bar and Fringe Bar, wheelchair users will need to contact the venues in advance to come in the back. 

Obviously front door access should be the goal, but event producers will do whatever they can to get you safely in so you can catch Drag, theatre, burlesque and other live performances. I recommend contacting these venues in advance if you need sturdy seating too. Drag bingo and quiz nights at Dirty Little Secret are wheelchair accessible but also need you to contact them in advance as some tables are raised. 

We know that all too often disabled people are infantilised and desexualised. That’s why it’s all the more important that festivals like this provide space to celebrate your identity(s) and be with your communities. Whatever you do for Pride, have an amazing time, and I hope to see you at some of the events!

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