Accessible football stadia in England : what represents meaningful provision for wheelchair users and how can it be achieved?
The aim of this PhD research is to explore English football stadia provision for spectators who are wheelchair users, identifying features that can limit, or which can promote their inclusion. The outcome of the research is to provide a fuller understanding of what can constrain or enhance provision for spectators who are wheelchair users and to propose strategies that can enhance inclusive stadia provision. Various bodies of knowledge are brought together and applied to football stadia in order to: 1.Assess the design process, the legislation, the building regulations, the guidance and how they meet the needs of wheelchair users; 2.Examine the inclusivity of spectator sports and appraise the design guidance for stadia that can facilitate access to them; 3.Investigate the everyday user experience when attending football stadia and understand how provision is determined in practice; and 4.Recommend the changes and improvements that need to be made so that wheelchair users are better accommodated in football stadia. This qualitative research adopts an open-ended inductive approach, with some deductive aspects (namely, the critical literature review that initially led to the research). Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted to capture (i) the everyday experiences of twenty disabled supporters who are wheelchair users and (ii) the perspectives of eight key stakeholders involved in football commerce, stadia design and stadia management. The key findings revealed that English football stadia have many physical, attitudinal, management and operational barriers that limit accessibility for spectators who are wheelchair users; and that there are many constraints in design practice that have limited the inclusion of wheelchair users in English football stadia.
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