Fringe benefits: Edinburgh on wheels

Going the extra Royal Mile, Josh Hepple braves the cobbles to take in a selection of shows from this year's Edinburgh Fringe for Disability Now

If you’ve ever been to the Old Town part of Edinburgh you will know how many cobbles there are. As a wheelchair-user reviewing shows all day every day, these cobbles begin to tire me out and my wheels don’t appreciate them either! But it’s the biggest festival in the world and my favourite time of the year.

Most of the 369 venues that the Fringe uses are listed buildings. These are hard to adapt but they do try very hard. Ninety per cent are accessible in some way, even if it’s a ten minute diversion to use four different lifts instead of climbing the five steps everyone else has to manage. Fringe staff try really hard to meet the needs of disabled customers.

I am involved with equality training for all Fringe staff. I was disappointed at the level of turnout at these sessions but I’ve not run into any serious access problems so far. All disabled customers get a free ticket for their personal assistant which I think is great.

Upsetting at times but realistic, Expectations at the Pleasance Dome was one of the tougher shows I took in. It tells the very harsh truth about how challenging it can be to have a disabled child. Performed in English and Swedish, this excellent play based on the experiences of two of the actors was a very realistic depiction of the problems faced by parents of disabled children: their anger, disappointment and struggle to accept.

It was distressing to see the doctor in the hospital call the baby “fascinating”, as he was more interested in the genetic mutation rather then trying to make this very ill baby better. My parents experienced something very close to this when I stopped breathing three days after I was born.

It raises questions such as: is a disabled child’s life as valuable as a non-disabled child’s? Is it worth the extra care needed from the parents? Do medical professionals or social services do enough to support disabled children’s parents? It’s very emotional and may be distressing for parents of disabled children to watch but my family and I related very easily to Expectations.

Stand-up comedy has never been my favourite kind of Fringe show, but as Adam Hills is disabled I thought I would see if Mess Around could change my view. To rely mainly on improvisation for the better part of an hour is not an easy thing to do, but Adam pulled it off well. The main theme was stereotypes, and in the audience Adam discovered an Australian who lost his wedding ring “in the surf” and a Dutchman with a narrow beard.

I wanted to hear a bit more about Adam’s prosthetic leg but at the same time I was glad that his whole show was not based on his impairment and understand that his disability does not define him as a person. This show didn’t change my opinion of stand-up, but from the audience reaction, Mess Around was a hit.

In (Bye)Polar at The Space James is a troubled teenager struggling with bipolar disorder. James cuts himself off from the world, spending much of his time isolated in his room whilst he struggles to cope with his debilitating and unpredictable manic and depressive episodes. It’s evident that his father finds it incredibly difficult to come to terms with his son’s condition.

The decision to have James wear a hospital gown throughout the play allowed the audience to feel how vulnerable James is and how his life has become “medicalised”.

The play illustrated extremely successfully the reality of mental illness, not only for James but also the distress it causes to those closest to him.

Well written and very funny, Dyslexia the Musikal at The Space follows the story of Adam and Eva as they try to overcome their dyslexia. Two of the seven cast members have dyslexia and although the impairment is not really the main subject of this musical, it is exploited as a theme to comic effect. Light-hearted and silly, nothing in it should be taken seriously. It’s one of the funniest pieces of theatre I have seen at this year’s Fringe.

Smiler at the Gilded Balloon is about the relationship between the actor Richard Fry and his friend with serious head injuries. As someone with a disability who requires a substantial level of support, I could relate to Smiler but felt uncomfortable with the fuzzy overlap between friendship and assistance. One of the hardest things for me as a young disabled man is working out the boundaries I have to set with my personal assistants. I’ve been hurt in the past by misinterpreting signals as true friendship, whereas in fact to the people concerned, they were just doing a job.

This is the third play I have seen in this year’s Fringe which deals directly with disability. Although they have all been unrelentingly miserable and depressing, it’s a sign that disability is becoming more visible, which can only be a good thing. My hope is that next year there may be a disability show with a happy ending. If I can’t find one, maybe I’ll just have to write it myself!