Bristol Meetup, 6 December

~ JenniferP

There’s a meetup happening this weekend in Bristol, UK.

Hello, Captain! We at Bristol are running another meetup – details below, brazenly copy/pasted from the Facebook event. Apologies for the last-minute reporting, hope it’s not too late to get it on the main page.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1503275666624083/

Plangent honkings and pre-season’s greetings, fellow awkwardeers! Get ready to start your pengines and synchronise your swatches for Bristol Awkward Army Meetup: Doodle Edition.

WHERE AND WHEN?

11:00AM, 6th December
The Canteen, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3QY

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

We’re going to be chatting, sketching and maybe playing some drawing games. If previous meetups are any indication, there may also be pancakes and tea and lovely people.

WHAT DO I NEED?

Nothing! Pens and paper will be provided. If you have your own favourite colour though then you should definitely bring it, because nobody will ever love burnt fuchsia as much as you do.

The Canteen is wheelchair-accessible with a disabled bathroom, and caters for organic, vegan and gluten-free diets. Parking is free for an hour, or all-day for £5. More details (including a sample menu) on their website:

http://www.canteenbristol.co.uk/

I will be there from 11:00 and will have some manner of stuffed animal (genus tbc). Hope to see you all there!

Mark

 

Have fun! As a reminder, you can plan your own Meetup anywhere in the world. Guidelines here.

8 thoughts on “Bristol Meetup, 6 December”

  1. Firstly, I hope the meetup goes very well! I love Bristol and wish I could visit it more often. Have fun!

    But secondly, sorry to be a pain, but the bathroom isnt disabled, unless there is something wrong with it? It is *accessible*.

    (NB these are comments about UK based semantics and terminology; I realise it varies!)

    Although, I wonder whether it IS a bathroom? Or just a toilet facility? If it is an accessible bathroom, with changing and shower facilities, then it may well be listed under the Changing Places facilities (http://www.changing-places.org/) in which case it is good to know that specifically, there is a Changing Places bathroom.

    Otherwise, it is an accessible toilet.

    I apologise if this sounds too much like semantics, and I realise there are cultural differences between countries re toilet / bathroom / restroom, but as a wheelchair user, I like to know if Ill be accommodated. “Disabled” says to me that someone who thinks they know what they are talking about has provided what they guess might work, whereas “accessible” says to me that at least they understand the terminology so they might understand my needs and accommodate them, too! (I say this in case you are just quoting the venue’s own description.)

    Info I look for are terms like: step-free access, accessible toilet, changing places facility, hearing loop, braille / large print menu, high contrast flooring, low-height bar, accessible counter / cashier / kiosk, RADAR locked toilet.

    Hearing that there is “wheelchair access” and a “disabled loo” tells me that someone thinks it is probably ok for wheelies, and means well, but probably doesnt really know the details.

    Im so sorry this got long, and OP I expanded to help others in future rather than mean to complain at you – I wonder if youre repeating what the venue has said?

    I conceed I may be a little sensitive as earlier tonight I went to a “wheelchair friendly” venue to celebrate my birthday, to find while there was an accessible loo and step free access, there was no low height bar, all the tables were at my eye height and all the seats were bar stools. So we left, and set off across London to another venue, where a baby change unit was crammed into the “accessible” toilet so I couldnt transfer from my chair to the loo easily, and couldnt reach the hand dryer (behind the baby change unit) at all. Both venues said they were wheelchair-accessible…. Neither really was, in practice. So a description of what there actually is (step free, or a small step to enter, etc etc) is really what’s needed.

    The Randomness Guide To London gets this kinda description very right, so you know what the access actually entails, for an example of good ways to describe access at a venue.

    Argh, this got long. Ive said it so Ill post it, in the hope that it helps, but OP I do hope this came over ok as Im seeking to help and inform not criticise. Very willing to discuss, if I can be any help at all (to anyone)!

    Have a great time. 🙂

  2. Apologies! “Disabled bathroom” is a colloquialism that’s wormed into my head, but you’re right, it lacks the right sort of precision to reassure someone who needs that access. I’ve just scoured the website and failed to find any specific details, so the most I can personally assure anybody is that there is at least some effort made by the venue, that we’ve had prior attendees with reduced mobility without, as far as I know, any complaint, and that the decision to use this venue was made by more disability-aware persons than myself. I appreciate that none of those are cast-iron reassurances.

    1. Thanks so much for your reply!

      However I’d also like to apologise for my long rant over one phrase(!) last night. I just woke up & the first thing I thought was “er, that probably wasn’t appropriate”. So, sorry; there were probably better ways for me to make that point :/

      And thank you so much for taking it in the spirit I meant it, and not being offended. I really appreciate it. Have a fab event!

      1. No apologies necessary. You’re passionate about an important thing, you shared it respectfully and you helped me learn some things I clearly needed to know. I’d call that every kind of appropriate.

  3. Auuuugh no, I just saw this or I would totally be there! Heartbroken; I haven’t been able to make it out to one of these since I moved to the UK and I’ve been really looking forward to going to one. :C

    For future reference, about how long do you usually wind up hanging out?

    3. Oh, I missed your question at the end. I think this last one ended after around three hours, but it’s completely up to the individual awkwardeers; folks drop in and out over the length of them, and they sometimes spill over into other events (last time a bunch of us went to a HOEDOWN). Like Elodie says, anybody’s welcome to organise one of their own – we’re currently averaging around three or four a year, but I’d love to see that number increase.

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