The Unruly Folk Festival Survival Guide

An absurdly thorough, neurodivergent and disability-aware guide to day festivals, camping festivals, chronic illness, sensory survival, mobility, executive dysfunction, camping comfort and all the tiny things nobody remembers until they’re sitting in a field thinking, “Shit.”

Just want the lists? The Festival Survival Checklist puts every list from this guide in one place, so you can choose day or camping, hide what’s not for you, add your own items and save or print your whole checklist.

A living guide · Last updated 26 September 2026 · Suggest an addition

Festival packing lists usually begin with the obvious. Ticket. Phone. Sunscreen. Water bottle. Tent if you’re camping. Cool. We have successfully prepared a theoretical human who apparently has no joints, lungs, sensory system, medication, periods, dietary requirements, mobility needs, executive dysfunction or uncanny ability to lose an object while actively holding it.

Unfortunately, actual humans are considerably more complicated. I’m autistic, ADHD and dyspraxic. I also have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and asthma. I’ve done everything from single-day festivals to living in a tent at Glastonbury, and a lot of this guide comes from figuring out how to make festivals work with my particular collection of bodily nonsense.

Sometimes through clever planning. Sometimes because Past Me made a terrible logistical decision and Future Me was forced to take notes. But my disabilities aren’t all disabilities. There are access requirements here that I don’t personally have. There are others I won’t have thought of at all. I don’t know from lived experience what it’s like to navigate a festival blind, manage an ostomy in a campsite, carry diabetes equipment through a festival, plan around seizures, use a powered wheelchair across a muddy site or handle countless other combinations of bodies, brains and access needs.

I’m not going to pretend otherwise. What I can do is research, listen, share what I know, point towards things worth investigating and make space for people who know things I don’t. So consider this a living guide. If something has made festivals possible, easier, safer or simply more enjoyable for you, I want to know about it.

Maybe your suggestion helps someone stay for the headliner. Maybe it helps someone camp for the first time. Maybe somebody who assumed festivals were no longer possible after becoming disabled discovers another way to do them. Maybe we collectively discover a nineteenth use for a carabiner. I’m into all of those outcomes.

Start Here

How the labels work, and why you only need the bits that fit you.

How To Use This Guide

Day useful for a single-day/non-camping event

Camp useful when you’re living onsite

Both useful for either

Access particularly useful for disabled, neurodivergent, chronically ill, Deaf/HoH or sensory-sensitive festivalgoers

Check rules vary, so check your festival before packing it

That final label matters. A folding chair might be absolutely fine at one event and prohibited at another. The same goes for:

• outside food
• medication procedures
• bottles
• aerosols
• metal cutlery
• cooking equipment
• umbrellas
• trolleys
• large power banks
• tools
• mobility equipment
• bag sizes
• re-entry

Disability-related equipment may have a separate approval process. Read the rules for your actual event. Then check them again shortly before you leave.

Accessibility Is Personal

You do not need everything in this guide. Please don’t finish reading this and arrive at Glastonbury towing a tactical wheelbarrow containing three chairs, four kilograms of carabiners and enough equipment to open a small regional hospital. Treat this as a menu. Take what helps. Adapt things. Ignore what doesn’t apply.

Two people with the same diagnosis can have completely different requirements. One autistic person might desperately need ear defenders. Another needs to hear everything around them to feel safe. One person with chronic pain might need to reduce every possible gram of luggage. Another needs more equipment specifically to manage that pain.

One mobility-aid user’s perfect festival setup may be completely useless to somebody using a different device.

There is no correct way to be disabled at a festival.

Plan Before You Pack

What to find out, ask and test before a single thing goes in a bag.

Before You Pack Anything, Investigate The Festival

BothAccess

One of the best things you can pack is something you discover you don’t need to pack at all. Some major festivals now offer things such as sensory spaces, accessible camping, viewing platforms, Changing Places toilets, medication refrigeration, wheelchair and medical-device charging, accessible showers, hearing support, interpreters and other services. Provision varies enormously, which makes checking your specific event essential. Look for:

• Accessible entrance
• Accessible parking
• Accessible drop-off
• Companion/PA tickets
• Accessible camping
• Accessible showers
• Accessible toilets
• Changing Places
• Viewing platforms
• Ground-level accessible viewing
• Quiet areas
• Sensory spaces
• Welfare centres
• Medical facilities
• Medication refrigeration
• Sharps disposal
• Medical-device charging
• Mobility-device charging
• Wheelchair hire
• Mobility-aid hire
• Accessible shuttles
• Rest areas
• Seating
• Shade
• Hearing loops
• Auslan/BSL interpretation
• Live captioning
• Audio description
• Sighted guides
• Braille information
• Communication boards
• Easy Read information
• Assistance-animal facilities
• Water stations
• Food exemptions
• Medication exemptions
• Re-entry arrangements
• Accessible evacuation procedures

There is some genuinely excellent practice out there. The point isn’t that every festival provides all of this. The point is: ask. You may have more options than you realise.

In Australia, a Companion Card gets your carer in without a second paid ticket at participating events, and every state and territory runs its own scheme.

If an event’s access info doesn’t answer your question, email their access team. Or ask us to, and we’ll get in touch with them and add what we find to our Accessibility Snapshots.

We also write guides for individual events, like our Perth Festival 2026 guide and our Laneway Perth 2026 guide.

Don’t Ask “Is It Accessible?”

Ask:

• How far is accessible camping from the arena?
• What is the ground surface?
• What happens to that route if it rains?
• Can I bring my own seating?
• Can I recline somewhere if sitting upright isn’t enough?
• Is the viewing platform shaded?
• Can I charge a wheelchair overnight?
• Can you refrigerate my medication?
• Where is the nearest Changing Places facility?
• What happens if I can’t stand in a queue?
• Can my support person travel on the accessible shuttle with me?
• Are accessible toilets locked or access-controlled?
• Can I leave and re-enter?

Specific questions get useful answers.

Your Body Doesn’t Owe The Festival Consistency

BothAccess

You can walk in and need a mobility aid later. You can stand for one artist and need accessible seating for another. You can tolerate a crowd at 2pm and need a sensory space at 8pm. You can walk to the arena and need transport back. You can speak perfectly comfortably until overload makes words difficult.

You can feel brilliant Friday and completely depleted Saturday. Variable disability is still disability. You do not have to maintain the same level of capacity all day to “deserve” support.

Pack For Capacity

Every item costs something. Money. Weight. Space. Physical effort. Mental effort. Ask what it buys back. Does it:

• save energy?
• reduce pain?
• reduce coordination demands?
• remove a decision?
• reduce sensory load?
• prevent something getting lost?
• help me communicate?
• make food easier?
• help me regulate?
• let me recover?
• make something unfamiliar predictable?
• prevent a foreseeable problem?

If it does enough of those things, it may be worth the space.

Familiarity Is An Accessibility Tool

CampAccess

You don’t necessarily need to bring your favourite household objects. Find the camping version and let that become familiar. Eat dinner with your camping cutlery. Drink from your festival bottle. Use the camping mug. Sit in the chair. Sleep on the camping pillow. Try the sleeping mat.

Wear the earplugs. Use the head torch. Wear the shoes. Practise opening your medication pouch. Pack the backpack. Walk around wearing it. Put the tent up. Take the tent down. Cook on your camping stove somewhere safely and legally permitted if you plan to use one. Find out whether your shiny new ultralight pillow sounds like somebody violently opening a crisp packet every time your head moves. Let unfamiliar camping gear graduate into: Favourite Camping Thing™.

Test The System, Not Merely The Objects

This is important. Pack your actual day bag. Put it on. Then:

• take your phone out
• put it away
• reach your earplugs
• reach your medication
• open your water bottle
• sit down
• stand up
• put your jacket on
• clip your bottle back
• get your wallet
• put everything away again

Can you do it while keeping one hand free? Can you reach the important things without removing your entire backpack? Are the zips fiddly? Does the bottle leak when clipped sideways? Does something jab you in the spine? Can you actually carry the weight? Now do the same with your camping setup.

Accessibility can be audited in your living room.

Systems For Bodies And Brains

Small setups that save energy, reduce fiddliness and stop things disappearing.

Dyspraxia: Reduce The Number Of Tiny Motor Problems

BothAccess

Festivals can become coordination obstacle courses. Uneven ground. Guy lines. Mud. People abruptly stopping. Cables. Tiny zips. Paper plates. Drinks without lids. Eating while standing. Opening packets. Trying to put your poncho on while holding your phone. Somebody has now handed you another drink. Excellent. If coordination, spatial awareness or sequencing are things you struggle with, make fiddly jobs bigger and simpler. Try:

• oversized zip pulls
• textured zip pulls
• wide-mouth bottles
• flip-top bottles
• straws
• cups with lids
• bowls instead of plates
• easy-open containers
• familiar cutlery
• carabiners
• phone tether
• neck wallet
• cross-body bag
• packing cubes
• bright labels
• colour coding
• high-contrast tape
• reflective guy-line markers
• hands-free head torch
• elastic/no-tie laces
• slip-on camp shoes
• pre-portioned food

Keep One Hand Free

Clip the bottle. Wear the wallet. Tether the phone. Bag the loose objects. A free hand can help with balance, a mobility aid, opening gates, holding a rail or simply avoiding the classic: phone + drink + merch + jacket + sudden uneven ground = catastrophe.

Turn Tiny Things Into Big Things

BothAccess

• Tiny tent zip? Add a chunky pull.
• Tiny key? Add a large keyring.
• Identical cables? Label them.
• Dark bag interior? Use bright pouches.
• Tiny switch? Mark it with tactile tape.

A surprising amount of accessible design boils down to: make the thing easier to find and easier to manipulate.

A Long-Handled Shoehorn Is Surprisingly Good Festival Gear

CampAccess

Hear me out. After a day of walking, bending down to wrestle muddy shoes on or off may be exactly the movement your body does not want. A lightweight long-handled shoehorn can help some people:

• get footwear on without deep bending
• manage stiff boots
• reduce balancing on one leg
• preserve energy

Likewise, if you already use dressing aids at home, consider whether a compact festival version would save you effort.

A Folding Grabber/Reacher Can Be Brilliant

CampAccess

Especially in a tent. Dropped sock? Bottle rolled behind the mattress? Phone cable escaped into the corner? You do not necessarily need to fold your entire body into a complicated geometry problem to retrieve it. A lightweight reacher can also be useful for people who have difficulty bending or reaching the ground.

Wear The Important Stuff

BothAccess

I wear my wallet around my neck. If something is physically attached to me, I have a significantly harder time losing it. Options include:

• Neck wallet
• Small cross-body pouch
• Bum bag
• Running belt
• Wrist wallet
• Phone lanyard
• Wallet tether
• Retractable pass holder
• Zipped lanyard pouch

Your always-on-you kit might contain:

• ID
• Bank card
• Emergency cash
• Access pass
• Essential medication
• Emergency card
• Earplugs
• Key
• Transport card

If something hangs around your neck, use something safely designed for that purpose, ideally with an appropriate breakaway mechanism where relevant.

The ADHD Anti-Disappearance Department

BothAccess

Stop asking working memory to do a job that a cheap clip can do better. Useful:

• Carabiners
• Key clips
• Phone tether
• Wallet tether
• Retractable reel
• Earplug case attached to your bag
• Bottle clip
• Bright luggage tag
• Glow tag
• Contact information inside bags
• Bluetooth tracker if you already use one

Important stuff needs a home. Earplugs go here. Medication goes here. Cable goes here. Wallet lives on body. No improvisation.

Make A Bag Map

BothAccess

This one is beautifully nerdy. Take a photo of your packed bag with the pouches laid out. Or write:

Front pocket: sensory
Inside left: medical
Inside right: weather
Bottom: warm layer
Neck wallet: the important stuff

Save it on your phone. Print a tiny copy if useful. Now someone helping you can also find something quickly without unpacking your entire life.

Modular Access Pouches

BothAccess

Sensory

• Musician earplugs
• Stronger earplugs
• Ear defenders
• Sunglasses
• Stim
• Communication card
• Mask

Body

• Medication
• Inhaler if prescribed
• Braces/supports normally used
• Anti-chafe
• Blister treatment
• Personal pain-management items
• Cooling item

Weather

• Sunscreen
• Hat
• Poncho
• Cooling towel

Toilet

• Tissues
• Sanitiser
• Period supplies
• Disposal bags
• Access key/pass

Tech

• Power bank
• Short cable
• Backup cable

Food

• Safe snack
• Cutlery
• Straw
• Seasoning

Use different colours or textures. You can now identify them without reading.

Communication And Decisions

Ways to be understood, and to decide things, when words or energy run out.

Emergency Information: Make It Boring And Obvious

BothAccess

Have multiple copies.

One: wallet
Two: behind phone case
Three: main bag
Four: trusted person
Five: tent

Include whatever matters. There’s a card below to fill in, print and keep in your wallet. QR code? Sure. As an extra. Do not make emergency information dependent on signal, battery, somebody owning the right phone or the person helping you understanding that the mysterious square is important. Paper remains undefeated by software updates.

If I Can’t Communicate

BothAccess

Consider a personalised card. Different people will need completely different wording. Make yours yours.

Communication Doesn’t Have To Be Speech

BothAccess

Possibilities include:

• Notes app
• Small whiteboard
• Laminated cards
• Yes/no card
• Symbol board
• Communication board
• AAC app
• Prewritten phrases
• Body/pain diagram

Useful phrases might include:

• I need somewhere quiet.
• Please write that down.
• I need medical help.
• I need to sit down.
• Please don’t touch me.
• I can’t understand you here.
• Where is the accessible toilet?

A few more ways to have the explaining already done for you:

• Put your emergency contact and medical info on your lock screen, with Medical ID on iPhone or Emergency information on Android, so first aid can see it even if you can’t talk.
• Add a short lock-screen message too, like “I’m autistic and in shutdown. I can hear you but can’t talk right now. Please call this number.”
• Agree on a code word with a friend, so one text says you need help.
• In Australia, the Emergency+ app shows your exact location when you can’t describe where you are.
• If you can’t use your voice in an emergency, the National Relay Service can connect you to 000 by text, or you can call 106 from a TTY.

Outsource Executive Function To Cardboard

BothAccess

You are allowed to leave.

The “What Do We Do Now?” Card

You can change your mind.

Pre-Decide Tiny Choices

BothAccess

Decision fatigue can make even choosing food impossible. Try:

Hungry

Safe snack → nearest acceptable meal → camp food.

Overloaded

Earplugs → edge of crowd → quiet area → camp/home.

Exhausted

Skip Spoons Permitting act → Must See only → camp/home. You’ve already decided. Festival Brain just follows the flowchart.

Must See / Would Love / Spoons Permitting

BothAccess

MUST SEE

These get protected energy.

WOULD LOVE

High priority if capacity allows.

SPOONS PERMITTING

Lovely if it happens. You are attending a festival. You are not speedrunning cultural consumption.

Must See get protected energy. Would Love are high priority if capacity allows. Spoons Permitting are lovely if they happen.

Schedule Nothing

CampAccess

Actually write: 14:00–15:30: NOTHING. Eat. Lie down. Swing. Read. Change your socks. Watch downloaded nonsense. Stare thoughtfully at your tent. Resting before complete depletion is far more useful than discovering your limits through catastrophe.

Access Needs, Condition By Condition

Specific planning for different bodies, conditions and access requirements.

EDS, Hypermobility And Chronic Pain

BothAccess

I’m writing this part from my own experience too. Bring things you already know work for your body. That might include:

• Familiar braces
• Supports
• Compression garments you already use
• Familiar insoles
• Pressure-relief cushion
• Lumbar support
• Footrest
• Mobility aid
• Anti-chafe
• Recovery shoes
• Different seating options

Don’t debut a completely unfamiliar brace at the festival. And remember: rest does not always mean sitting upright. Some bodies need to recline. Some need legs elevated. Some need movement. Some need to lie down. Some need to keep changing position. Plan for the body you actually have.

The Hammock Chair

CampAccessCheck

Mine earns its luggage space. It gives me a different supported position, doesn’t create the same pressure points as an ordinary chair, and the gentle swinging can be incredibly regulating for me. I also take a tiny folding chair. Different jobs. This is why I don’t automatically believe the lightest option is the best option.

A 400 g chair that hurts after ten minutes might save less energy than a 1 kg chair that lets you properly recover.

Seating Is Equipment

BothAccessCheck

Depending on your needs and festival rules:

• Tiny folding chair
• Full camping chair
• High-backed chair
• Folding stool
• Ground chair
• Sit mat
• Foam pad
• Inflatable cushion
• Pressure-relief cushion
• Lumbar support
• Footrest
• Picnic mat
• Walking-stick seat if already appropriate for you

Think about position, not simply “a chair”.

Asthma And Respiratory Access

BothAccess

Festivals can involve:

• Dust
• Smoke
• vaping
• dry grass
• perfume
• stage haze
• cold air
• heat
• tightly packed crowds

Keep prescribed rescue medication somewhere you can actually reach it. Not underneath three jumpers and a bag of crisps. Depending on your normal management plan, that might also mean:

• preventer medication
• spacer
• backup supply
• medical information
• comfortable mask for some particulate exposure
• knowing where medical care is
• knowing how to leave dense crowds

If you’re struggling to breathe, this is a medical-help problem, not a festival-hack problem.

Energy-Limiting Conditions And Fatigue

BothAccess

Pain, fatigue and sensitivities are a big part of my own experience, and a lot of what I live with overlaps with ME/CFS. Everyone’s energy limits look different, though, so I’d still love lived-experience input here. Things worth investigating might include:

• shortest routes
• accessible shuttles
• mobility aids
• camp location
• seated viewing
• somewhere to recline
• reducing queueing
• reducing unnecessary journeys
• food and water at base
• protecting recovery time
• leaving before absolute depletion

Someone living with ME/CFS, Long COVID or another energy-limiting condition will know far more about their own pacing requirements than a generic festival article ever could. If that’s you and there are things festivals or fellow attendees should know, please tell us.

Diabetes And Other Time-Critical Medical Management

BothAccess

Again, this isn’t my lived experience. If you manage diabetes or another condition requiring regular monitoring, medication, food, sharps or temperature-sensitive supplies, plan around your established medical routine and contact the accessibility team well beforehand. Things to ask about can include:

• medication entry
• cooling/refrigeration
• sharps disposal
• medical waste
• power
• food exemptions
• bringing hypo treatment
• access to water
• access to medical staff

If you’ve got lived experience here, I would love practical festival-specific additions.

An evaporative cooling pouch can keep insulin in range without ice. And CGM alarms are easy to miss next to a stage, so vibrate alerts and a friend on your follow app can help.

Epilepsy, Photosensitivity And Seizure Planning

BothAccess

Another area where lived experience matters more than me guessing. Potential planning questions include:

• Does the festival publish strobe warnings?
• Are any stages or performances strobe-free?
• Is there a quieter/lower-stimulation viewing option?
• Does your companion know your seizure plan?
• Is emergency information easy to find?
• Is prescribed rescue medication accessible where relevant?
• Where is medical?

If you’ve navigated festivals with epilepsy or photosensitivity, please tell us what actually makes them manageable.

Migraine And Light Sensitivity

BothAccess

Possible tools, depending on what you already know helps:

• familiar medication
• sunglasses
• FL-41 rose-tinted glasses, which some people find take the sting out of strobes and lasers
• cap/visor
• ear protection
• water
• quiet-space location
• planned escape route
• sensory downtime

And sometimes the best piece of equipment is simply knowing where you can get away from the production before you need to.

Allergies And Anaphylaxis

BothAccess

If this applies to you:

• carry prescribed emergency medication
• make it easy to reach
• tell a trusted person where it is
• carry clear emergency information
• investigate food policies
• investigate medical-food exemptions
• be cautious with ingredients where information is unclear

Festival food can be chaotic. “Probably doesn’t contain it” is not useful allergen information.

Ostomy, Continence And Urgent Toilet Needs

BothAccess

I really want community input here because this isn’t my lived experience. Useful planning may involve:

• accessible toilet locations
• Changing Places
• an MLAK key for accessible toilets in Australia
• urgent-toilet access arrangements
• disposal facilities
• medical-waste arrangements
• clean water
• private changing space
• spare supplies
• spare clothing
• a dedicated change kit
• lighting at night

Somebody who actually handles an ostomy, catheter or continence needs at festivals will have practical knowledge that no generic checklist can replace.

Unruly Fam, I want yours.

Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing Access

BothAccess

Depending on your needs and equipment:

• hearing-aid batteries
• charger
• cochlear-implant charger
• power bank
• waterproof case
• drying equipment
• retention clips
• spare domes/consumables
• cleaning supplies
• backup communication method
• live captions on your phone, like Live Captions on iPhone or Live Transcribe on Android

Ask about:

• hearing loops
• captioning
• Auslan/BSL
• accessible viewing
• haptic access
• communication boards

Blind And Low-Vision Access

BothAccess

This is another section I’d love shaped further by people with lived experience. Ask about:

• sighted guides
• audio description
• accessible/high-contrast maps
• tactile information
• Braille
• assistance-animal support
• predictable routes
• staff navigation assistance

Personal organisational ideas might include:

• tactile markers on pouches
• differently textured zip pulls
• high-contrast tape
• consistent bag organisation
• voice notes
• spoken route instructions
• audio recording of campsite directions
• the Be My Eyes app, for a sighted volunteer when you need one

And if you actually navigate festivals blind or with low vision, tell us what really helps and what events consistently get wrong.

Assistance Animals Need Their Own Festival Plan

BothAccess

Check:

• event registration
• water
• relief areas
• shade
• rest
• food
• surface temperature
• crowds
• noise
• pyrotechnics
• camping arrangements
• emergency veterinary information

Wheelchairs And Mobility Aids Deserve Festival Outfits

BothAccessCheck

Useful additions might include:

• Cup holder
• Phone mount
• Accessible organiser
• Weatherproof pouch
• Under-seat storage
• Rain protection
• Pressure cushion
• Cane/crutch holder
• Lap blanket
• Gloves
• Reflective tape
• Device-specific charger
• Repair supplies

And then the fun stuff:

• Wheel lights
• Battery lights
• Spoke decorations
• Colourful spoke guards
• Streamers
• Stickers
• Bell
• Horn
• Decorative joystick accessories
• Small flag or marker where safe

A horn can also be considerably more effective than saying “excuse me” for the 437th time. Decorations obviously need to stay clear of moving parts, controls and transfer areas.

Walking Sticks And Crutches Need Somewhere To Live

BothAccess

If you use them intermittently, work out where they go when you’re seated. Possibilities include:

• dedicated holder
• clip
• loop
• bag attachment
• wrist strap if appropriate

Consider:

• spare ferrule/tip
• identification
• reflective tape

A mobility aid that repeatedly falls onto the floor becomes its own accessibility problem.

Day Festivals

What to carry when everything has to come with you all day.

The Carry-It-All-Day Kit

Day

Keep this manageable.

• Ticket/pass
• ID
• Access documentation
• Wallet/neck pouch
• Bank card
• Emergency cash
• A pen, so you can write an emergency number on your arm if your phone dies
• Phone
• Small power bank
• Short cable
• Water bottle where permitted
• Ear protection
• Sunglasses
• Hat
• Sunscreen
• Medication
• Emergency card
• Communication card
• Decision card
• Safe snack where permitted
• Cooling towel
• Hand fan
• Mask
• Sanitiser
• Tissues
• Period products
• Anti-chafe
• Blister supplies
• Poncho
• Warm layer
• Stim
• Hair ties
• Spare socks if practical
• Waterproof pouch
• Portable seating if permitted
• Analogue watch

Every object has to justify being carried around all day.

Camping Festivals

Turning a tent into a temporary accessible home.

Build A Temporary Accessible Home

Camp

Camping changes everything. Your camp becomes:

• bedroom
• wardrobe
• kitchen
• charging station
• sensory retreat
• recovery space
• equipment store
• weather shelter
• temporary home

Treat it accordingly.

Your Tent Should Let You Exist Inside It

CampAccess

Festival tent advice is often obsessed with: How small does it pack? Reasonable question. Another useful question:

Can I actually move in it?

If your transport situation, festival rules and access needs allow it, consider a tent with enough usable height to stand or sit properly. Trying to get dressed while folded inside a nylon coffin is enough to make anyone start reconsidering civilisation. Now add:

• hypermobility
• chronic pain
• balance problems
• dyspraxia
• limited mobility
• fatigue
• dizziness
• braces
• compression garments
• continence care
• medical equipment
• wet clothes

For some people, standing to dress is easier. For others, the valuable feature is enough room to sit on a proper chair and dress safely. Look at:

• standing height
• seated height
• wall shape
• floor space
• doorway width
• doorway height
• lip/step at entrance
• zip position
• ability to reach the zip
• internal poles
• room for mobility equipment
• room for a chair
• ability to turn
• ability to transfer
• emergency exit ease

And beware the deceptive specification: “190 cm high!” Wonderful. Is that 190 cm across a useful section of the tent? Or one tiny magical spot in the exact centre while everything around it descends immediately into Goblin Crouch Territory? Cabin-style and steeper-walled tents can provide much more usable internal height.

A “Three-Person Tent” Does Not Mean Three Comfortable Humans

Manufacturers tend to calculate capacity using a fascinating experimental model in which humans:

• have no bags
• never change clothes
• never move
• own nothing
• enjoy sleeping like sardines

If you need space for:

• mobility equipment
• medical equipment
• chair
• dressing
• sensory recovery
• changing positions
• another actual human

then sizing up may be worthwhile. Provided, of course, that you can transport and pitch the thing.

Test Your Tent By Doing Tent Things

CampAccess

Set it up before the festival. Put your actual mattress inside. Add your bags. Add your chair. Add the other person if you’re sharing. Then:

• get changed
• put your shoes on
• take them off
• reach your medication
• sit
• stand
• lie down
• get back up
• open the door
• close the door
• turn around
• organise your clothing
• use your mobility equipment
• imagine the entrance is wet

If that experience already feels dreadful in your garden, adding mud, noise, exhaustion and darkness is unlikely to improve it.

Colour-Code Your Tent

CampAccess

Particularly lovely for dyspraxic brains. Put matching coloured tape on corresponding:

• poles
• sleeves
• corners
• clips

Now: red goes to red instead of: mystery aluminium noodle goes through anonymous nylon tunnel number seven. Photograph each stage when you practise. Save the photos offline.

Make A Tent Instruction Card

CampAccess

Pictures. Few words. One action at a time.

1. Groundsheet.
2. Tent flat.
3. Red pole.
4. Blue pole.
5. Raise.
6. Peg.
7. Guy lines.

Laminate it. Now setup doesn’t require signal, YouTube or perfect memory.

General Shelter Kit

Camp

• Tent
• Groundsheet
• Poles
• Guy lines
• Suitable pegs
• Spare pegs
• Mallet where permitted
• Repair patches
• Pole repair sleeve
• Spare cord
• Gaffer tape
• Reusable cable ties
• Dry bags
• Rubbish bags
• Entrance mat/sacrificial towel

Before leaving home: PUT THE TENT UP. Count the components. Future You says thank you.

Think About Condensation, Not Only Rain

Camp

Water can arrive from inside too. Store these in waterproof bags even inside the tent:

• Medication
• Electronics
• Emergency paperwork
• Dry clothes
• Sleep clothes
• Sacred Socks

Ventilate the tent according to its design. Avoid transforming your bedroom into a human humidity experiment.

Glow-In-The-Dark Everything

CampAccess

I love glow-in-the-dark zip pulls. Also:

• Reflective guy-line markers
• Glow tape
• Reflective tape
• Bottle marker
• Toilet-bag marker
• Tent marker
• Low-level battery lights

Marking guy lines is especially worthwhile if coordination or low vision makes tent cities even more exciting.

Give Your Tent Geography

CampAccess

THE LANDING PAD

A small basket/tray inside the entrance. Phone. Wallet. Glasses. Earplugs. Keys. Nothing needs deciding.

THE WET ZONE

Waterproof bag/container. Mud and wet things go here.

DIRTY CLOTHES PRISON

Self-explanatory.

THE CLEAN ZONE

Sleeping area. Shoes do not enter.

THE IMPORTANT WALL

Hanging organiser with:

• Medication
• Torch
• Chargers
• Ear protection
• Toiletries
• Emergency information

THE HOMELESS OBJECT BASKET

This deserves respect. Sometimes you do not possess the executive function required to return an object to its immaculate designated home. Fine. Put it in the basket. Redistribute later. We’ve invented municipal waste collection for your tent.

Make Camp Findable

CampAccess

I cannot stand the approximately eight billion flags at Glastonbury. I will reluctantly concede that a flag at your actual campsite can be bloody useful. Try:

• distinctive flag
• bunting
• reflective marker
• distinctive tent decoration
• battery lights

Photograph camp from the path you’ll approach it from. Photograph nearby landmarks. Save your camp location. Write it on your emergency card. Technology + analogue redundancy.

Make A Personal Landmark Route

BothAccess

“Walk north-west for 430 metres” may be utterly useless information. Try: giant pink tent → weird tree → giant metal spider → noodle van → campsite. Take photos. Useful for anyone who finds spatial navigation difficult.

Getting Your Stuff To Camp Is Part Of Accessibility

CampAccess

Before packing, calculate:

• total weight
• number of bags
• walking distance
• terrain
• hills
• number of journeys
• trolley rules
• accessible transport
• unloading rules
• rest opportunities
• who carries what

If trolleys are allowed, larger wheels tend to cope with rough ground better than tiny luggage wheels that encounter grass and immediately resign. But remember: the trolley also has to come home.

Arrival Meal: Do Yourself A Favour

CampAccess

Have one meal or substantial safe snack that requires basically nothing. No stove. No elaborate chopping. No exciting culinary plan. You’ve travelled. Carried things. Found camp. Possibly queued. Put up a tent. Your nervous system may be completely done. Arrival-night Festival You should not also have to become Gordon Ramsay.

Final-Morning Kit

Camp

This is another tiny trick I love. Pack your last morning separately:

• Clean underwear
• Clothes
• Toothbrush
• Medication
• Easy breakfast
• Water
• Charger
• Travel documents

Now you can pack most of camp without repeatedly discovering you packed something you still need. Reverse logistics. Beautiful.

Sleep Is Equipment

CampAccess

• Appropriate sleeping bag
• Sleeping mat/mattress
• Pump
• Repair patch
• Familiar camping pillow
• Familiar pillowcase
• Eye mask
• Sleeping earplugs
• Ear defenders
• Soft sleep headphones if tolerated
• Downloaded familiar audio
• Comfortable sleep clothes
• Warm socks
• Blanket if practical
• Comfort object
• Water beside bed
• Night medication
• Torch

Take the teddy. The teddy has received accreditation.

Sacred Dry Outfit

Camp

Seal one complete outfit away:

• Underwear
• Socks
• Shirt
• Comfortable bottoms
• Warm layer

Do not casually raid it. That belongs to Emergency Future You.

Sacred Dry Socks

Separate bag. Separate legal jurisdiction. No further questions.

Camp Sensory Recovery Station

CampAccess

Keep waiting at base:

• A chair that works for your body
• Ear defenders
• Eye mask
• Soft clothes
• Warm layer
• Blanket
• Favourite camping mug
• Safe snack
• Water
• Stim
• Book or e-reader
• Downloaded comfort media
• Charger
• Cooling kit
• Medication
• Pillow

Make going back to camp feel easy, rather than something you resist until you’ve completely crashed.

Food And Water

Eating and drinking with less effort, fewer decisions and fewer sensory surprises.

Familiar Cutlery Can Be Access Equipment

CampAccessCheck

My little camping set includes:

• Knife
• Fork
• Spoon
• Chopsticks
• Straw
• Straw cleaner
• Seasonings

Obviously, check the rules for every component. But where your utensils are permitted? Brilliant. Especially if unfamiliar cutlery is a sensory problem. Wooden fork touching my mouth? No. I have plans today. Use your camping cutlery at home first. Let it become familiar.

A Bowl Is Better Than A Plate More Often Than Anyone Admits

CampAccess

For dyspraxia, tremor, limited hand function, eating one-handed or merely trying to eat while sitting on the ground: high-sided bowl/container. Advantages:

• food stays inside
• easier to hold
• can sit in your lap
• doubles as storage
• can have a lid
• cereal
• pasta
• curry
• snacks
• everything

Paper plates appear to be designed by people who have never met gravity.

Camp Kitchen

CampCheck

Where permitted:

• Camping stove
• Approved fuel
• Safe ignition
• Pot
• Pan
• Lid
• Pot grip
• Bowl
• Mug
• Lidded food container
• Cutlery
• Chopsticks
• Straw
• Straw cleaner
• Cooking utensil
• Chopping board if permitted
• Can opener
• Bottle opener
• Tea towel
• Sponge
• Washing liquid
• Small basin
• Mesh drying bag
• Storage bags

General bushcraft lists often include knives, tools and fire-starting gear. Festival lists are different. Event rules win.

Seasonings Are Tiny Morale Technology

Camp

• Salt
• Pepper
• Favourite seasoning
• Hot sauce
• Familiar condiment
• Tea
• Coffee

A few grams can rescue spectacularly depressing campsite food. Familiar flavours can also make eating easier when stress or sensory overload has murdered your appetite.

Pack Food Exhausted You Will Actually Eat

BothAccessCheck

Not aspirational Festival You. Actual Festival You. Consider permitted versions of:

• familiar breakfast
• safe snacks
• reliable protein
• crackers
• favourite cereal
• shelf-stable comfort food
• familiar flavouring
• easy calories
• things requiring almost no preparation

If you’re an ARFID or sensory-sensitive eater, this can be especially important. I’d love more lived-experience tips here too.

Hydration Without A Side Quest

BothAccess

Use a bottle you genuinely like drinking from. Wide mouth? Straw? Flip top? Handle? Pick the interface that works for you. At camp, where permitted, keep a larger water container filled. Compare: drink water with: find shoes → find bottle → locate tap → walk there → queue → return → drink water. Deleting steps is accessibility.

Multifunctional Heroes

Cheap, light things that do several jobs at once.

Carabiners

BothCheck

Little organisational carabiners, not climbing gear. Jobs include:

• bottle attachment
• earplug case
• hat holder
• keys
• pouch attachment
• cup attachment
• wet item attachment
• lantern hanger
• shoe attachment at camp

Apparently a $2 bit of metal can become operations manager for your entire festival.

Bandana

Both

Potential jobs:

• sweat cloth
• neck covering
• head covering
• hair control
• cooling cloth
• napkin
• bag marker
• temporary eye shade
• wrapping around an irritating strap

Not sterile medical equipment. Still excellent.

Large Scarf Or Sarong

CampCheck

Potentially:

• clothing
• light blanket
• pillow cover
• changing cover
• picnic layer
• visual camp marker
• temporary privacy screen
• lightweight shade where safely appropriate

Don’t create blocked exits or trip hazards.

Microfibre Towel

Camp

Towel. Also:

• seat dryer
• condensation cloth
• pillow layer
• cold wet cloth
• equipment dryer
• emergency ground layer
• protective padding

Two is better if you’ve got room. One will inevitably become The Feral Towel.

Binder Clips

Camp

Tiny and weirdly powerful.

• Close food packets
• Hold a rubbish bag in place
• Keep cables together
• Hang a towel
• Identify belongings
• Stop something lightweight flapping
• Clip paperwork

Rubbish Bags

Camp

Deeply unsexy. Completely brilliant.

• rubbish
• dirty laundry
• muddy shoes
• wet clothes
• emergency internal waterproofing
• isolating filthy equipment for the journey home

Bring proper dry bags for important electronics/medication. Rubbish bags are the chaotic backup department.

Sit Mat

BothCheck

• seat
• kneeling pad
• footrest
• wet-ground barrier
• cleaner surface
• padding

Tiny folding foam ones occupy practically nothing.

Hoodie

Both

Weather permitting:

• warmth
• familiar texture
• hood blocks peripheral visual clutter
• slight sound buffering
• pillow
• lap padding
• comfort object

An oversized hoodie is basically portable architecture.

Body Care, Weather And Senses

Looking after your body, whatever the weather and the noise are doing.

Toilet Grab Bag

Both

One pouch:

• Toilet paper/tissues
• Sanitiser
• Period products
• Disposal bags
• Spare underwear
• Torch
• Access key/pass
• An MLAK key, which opens many accessible toilets across Australia
• Personal toileting equipment

At camp, it stays packed. At 4am, you grab one thing.

Personal Care

Camp

• Washcloth/flannel
• Soap
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Floss
• Deodorant
• Hairbrush
• Hair ties
• Quick-dry towel
• Spare towel
• Shower shoes
• Toiletry bag
• Permitted non-glass mirror
• Clothesline where safe/allowed
• Pegs
• Mesh drying bag

Period Kit

Both

Even if you’re “not due”. Bodies enjoy improvisational comedy.

• Familiar products
• Extras
• Spare underwear
• Disposal bags
• Normal pain-management supplies
• Dark bottoms
• Cleaning supplies

Use the products you know your body tolerates.

Sexual Health

Both

Depending on your life:

• Condoms/barriers
• Contraception
• Relevant medication
• Whatever safer-sex supplies apply to you

Festival packing guides occasionally behave as though nobody at festivals has sex. Historical evidence remains unconvincing.

Medication Gets A System

BothAccessCheck

Depending on your individual needs:

• Regular medication
• Appropriate contingency supply
• Rescue medication
• Original packaging where required
• Prescription/supporting documentation
• Written schedule
• Phone reminders
• Medical alert information
• Required cooling
• Device chargers
• Batteries
• Sharps supplies
• Disposal plan

If you need constant power, refrigeration or special storage, contact the access team early. Do not discover the procedure at the gate.

My own everyday emergency setup is small. Paracetamol, and my medication in a tiny container that holds just one dose. I 3D printed it, so it takes up almost no room in a pocket.

If you decant medication like this, keep a photo of the pharmacy label or your script on your phone in case security asks what it is.

Tiny Body-Repair Department

Both

Within event rules and your own normal care:

• Plasters
• Blister dressings
• Dressings
• Medical tape
• Cleaning wipes
• Anti-chafe
• Sunscreen
• Lip balm
• Personal pain relief
• Bite treatment
• Nail clippers
• Nail file
• Tweezers where permitted
• Spare shoelaces

The nail file sounds absurd until one broken nail becomes the only tactile sensation your nervous system can perceive for nine hours.

Feet Deserve Their Own Department

BothAccess

• Broken-in shoes
• Familiar insoles
• Normal braces/supports
• Socks
• More socks
• Sacred Socks
• Blister supplies
• Anti-chafe
• Spare laces
• Recovery shoes
• Camp shoes

Do not debut festival footwear at the festival. The shoes must complete probation.

Weather: Prepare For Several Festivals In One Day

Hot

• Hat
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen (a stick gets through gates where aerosols are banned)
• Water
• Fan
• Cooling towel
• Shade plan
• Appropriate clothing
• Whatever hydration strategy already forms part of your normal health plan

Cold/Wet

• Waterproof jacket
• Poncho
• Waterproof trousers if useful
• Warm layers
• Dry socks
• Bag cover
• Dry bags
• Waterproof electronics pouch
• Hat
• Gloves

Mud can radically change accessibility. Yesterday’s manageable path may become today’s final boss.

A headache, dizziness, nausea or feeling suddenly wiped out are all signs of heat exhaustion, and your cue to head for shade, water and first aid. If someone becomes confused, stops sweating or collapses, that’s a medical emergency, so get first aid or call 000.

Weatherproof Mobility Equipment Too

Access

Depending on the device:

• approved electronics protection
• joystick cover
• seat protection
• dry gloves
• reflective markings
• dry storage

Check the manufacturer’s guidance for your equipment rather than improvising around electrical components.

Two Types Of Ear Protection

BothAccess

Musician Earplugs

For enjoying the music at a lower level.

Stronger Earplugs / Ear Defenders

For: Everybody on Earth is making too much noise. Different job. Bring spares. One earplug disappearing into the grass should not become a major narrative event.

Ear Protection, Upgraded

BothAccess

A lot of modern earbuds and headphones now have seriously impressive noise cancellation, and some are drifting into what the tech world calls “hearables”. The latest Apple AirPods Pro are a good example. They can cut unwanted noise, add clarity to voices and the other sounds you actually want to hear, and even run a hearing test that builds your own audiogram.

Settings like Conversation Awareness and Transparency mean you can still chat and hear what’s happening around you when you need to, then go back to blocking out as much as you can when the crowd gets too much.

If you’d rather go custom, your local hearing clinic can take an impression of your ears and have earplugs moulded to fit you. You choose the filter, so they suit the sounds and situations you need them for, whether that’s a front-row mosh or a long day by the side stage.

Baseball Caps Are Secret Sensory Equipment

BothAccess

Tilt the brim. Suddenly you’ve reduced:

• overhead LEDs
• peripheral visual chaos
• some stage lighting
• direct sun

No charging. No firmware. Very sophisticated.

Smell Counts

BothAccess

Festival air can become: food + vape + perfume + dust + smoke + grass + portaloo + thousands of humans. A comfortable mask may help with some particulates and smells. Familiar, low-scent toiletries may also help if fragrance is a trigger. And please don’t solve your smell sensitivity by covering yourself in so much essential oil that you’ve become somebody else’s sensory emergency.

Tech, Time And Getting Around

Power, time, light, routes and repairs.

Power Banks: Plural For Camping

Day

Small power bank.

Camp

Large camp bank + small day bank. The big one stays at base. The little one travels. Also:

• Short cables
• Backup cable
• Medical-device chargers
• Hearing-device chargers
• Labels

Test them. Charge them. Pack them. Three separate steps, apparently.

Have A Battery Rule

BothAccess

Decide beforehand: 50%: reduce nonsense. 30%: low-power mode. 20%: communication, transport, accessibility and emergencies. Past You now runs energy policy.

Analogue Watch Supremacy

BothAccess

Checking your phone for the time can become: unlock → notification → message → social media → video of someone’s cat → why am I holding my phone? A watch tells you the time. That’s the entire user interface. Sensational.

Phone Alarms Need Instructions

Don’t set: 18:00. Set:

• 18:00 EAT + WATER
• 19:30 MEDICATION
• 20:15 SIT BEFORE HEADLINER
• 22:00 CHECK TRANSPORT

Don’t make Future You remember what Past You meant.

Head Torch

CampAccess

Hands-free lighting is especially useful if balance, coordination or mobility equipment already occupies your hands. Look for:

• comfortable strap
• low setting
• simple controls
• red mode if useful
• battery life you understand

Practise using it. Nobody wants LOW → HIGH → SUN → TACTICAL STROBE → OFF at 3am.

Tiny Repair Kit

CampCheck

One of the best ideas to steal from normal camping.

• Tent patches
• Mattress patches
• Pole repair sleeve
• Spare cord
• Spare pegs
• Reusable cable ties
• Gaffer tape (a few metres wrapped around an old card)
• Sewing kit
• Safety pins where permitted
• Spare batteries
• Spare cable

Wrapping a few metres of gaffer tape around an old gift card or loyalty card saves carrying a whole roll. It sits flat in a wallet or pouch, and you can peel off a strip for a torn tent, a split bag or a broken strap. You don’t need an entire hardware shop. You need enough to stop a tiny failure ending the weekend.

Duplicate The Catastrophic Stuff

Both

Don’t duplicate everything. Duplicate whatever failing would create a significant problem. Depending on you:

• Glasses
• Earplugs
• Charging cable
• Emergency information
• Critical device supplies
• Socks
• Light source
• Payment method

You probably don’t need two spatulas. I refuse to make assumptions about your spatula dependency.

Screenshot Routes, Not Just Maps

BothAccess

Save:

• Entrance → accessible viewing
• Stage → sensory area
• Stage → toilet
• Camp → medical
• Camp → arena
• Exit → pickup

A giant festival map is a puzzle. A screenshot showing one route answers one question.

Print The Timetable

Both

Yes, there is an app. Print it. Circle Must Sees. Highlight stages. Fold it. Waterproof it. Mobile networks sometimes see 100,000 people arrive and simply leave the profession.

Your People And Safety

Planning with the people you go with, and for the moments things go wrong.

Group Hand Signals

BothAccess

Agree on:

• Water
• Toilet
• Sit
• Quiet
• Leave
• Follow me
• I’m okay
• I’m not okay
• Medical

Useful during shutdown, in loud environments, for Deaf/HoH communication or whenever spoken language becomes impractical.

Buddy System Without Turning Your Friend Into A Carer

BothAccess

With consent, agree on:

• emergency contact
• where urgent medication is
• what helps
• what doesn’t
• meeting points
• whether check-ins help
• what overload looks like for you
• when you want medical support called

Your friend isn’t automatically responsible for managing your disability. Good planning still helps everybody.

Make A Lost-Person Plan

BothAccess

Pick: PRIMARY MEETING POINT and BACKUP MEETING POINT. Fixed landmark. Not: “near the flags”. Please respect the scale of the Glastonbury Flag Industrial Complex.

Queer Safety

Both

Go with people you trust, share your location with a friend, and check where the all-gender toilets are when you arrive.

If someone harasses you, tell staff, security or the welfare team straight away. You don’t need to prove anything to be taken seriously.

If you bind, heat is hard on your body. Give your chest regular breaks, and loosen or take your binder off if you start to overheat.

And if a day goes badly and you want to talk it through afterwards, QLife offers free LGBTIQ+ peer support on 1800 184 527. In an emergency, always call 000.

Photograph Everyone Before Going In

One group photo. Now you know exactly what everyone is wearing if somebody gets separated or disoriented. Also useful as a record of the brief period when everybody still looked clean.

Camp Whiteboard

CampAccess

A tiny board or notepad at camp. No signal. No group-chat archaeology.

Queue Survival

BothAccessCheck

Where permitted:

• Sit mat
• Portable seat
• Water
• Ear protection
• Stim
• Hat
• Fan
• Snack
• Offline entertainment

But most importantly: Ask what happens if you cannot stand in a long queue. Don’t wait until you’re already trapped in one.

Emergency Extras

CampCheck

Depending on festival rules:

• Foil emergency blanket
• Whistle/personal alarm
• Backup torch
• Emergency cash
• Spare glasses
• Backup essential device supplies

A whistle is for emergencies. It is not a method for locating Dave at 2am.

Leaving, And Getting Home

Getting out, getting home and the final check before you go.

What Bushcraft Gets Right

General outdoor advice gives us some genuinely excellent principles:

• Keep important things dry.
• Know the weather.
• Test your shelter.
• Protect your feet.
• Have backup light.
• Carry repair supplies.
• Know where you are.
• Duplicate genuinely critical equipment.
• Eat and drink before you’re completely depleted.
• Have an emergency plan.

We’ll take all of those.

What Bushcraft Does Not Get To Bring To The Festival

Depending on event rules:

• knives
• axes
• saws
• fire-starting kit
• prohibited fuel
• large multitools
• glass
• generators
• other tools

You are going to see bands. You are not establishing a frontier settlement.

The festival rules win.

Take Your Stuff Home

Camp

Your tent is not disposable. Neither is your chair. Neither is the air mattress. Plan the journey out before you arrive. Have:

• rubbish bags
• wet-gear bags
• transport capacity
• trolley if permitted
• departure plan

Future festivals do not need to occur on top of the archaeological remains of your camping equipment.

Plan Your Exit Before You Enter

DayAccess

Know:

• exit location
• last train/bus
• accessible transport
• pickup point
• road closures
• car location
• walking distance
• what happens if you need to leave early
• whether you can re-enter

Re-entry rules can be an accessibility issue. If you can’t go back to your car for medication, sensory equipment or a mobility aid, you need to know that before entering.

Rideshare pick-up zones jam up fast after the last act. Ask ahead about an accessible pick-up point or taxi rank, pre-book a wheelchair-accessible taxi if you need one, or wait out the rush somewhere quieter. If moving a street or two away is easy for you, that works too.

Prepare Home Before Leaving

BothAccess

Festival recovery begins before the festival. Set up:

• clean bedding
• comfortable clothes
• easy food
• drinks
• medication
• charger
• shower supplies
• low lighting
• quiet
• minimal obligations

If you can protect the next morning or next day, do it. Your nervous system doesn’t clock off when the encore finishes.

The Giant “Have I Forgotten Something?” Check

And then:

Can I Actually Carry All This Shit?

Pack it. Lift it. Wear it. Walk around. Sit down. Stand up. Try using your water bottle. Reach your medication. Open the bag. Close it. Try getting dressed in the tent. If the answer is: absolutely not, then redesign the system before you leave.

This Guide Has Gaps. Help Us Fill Them.

I’ve tried to make this guide enormous. I’ve pulled from my own festival and camping experience, accessibility information, neurodivergent survival strategies and general camping knowledge. And it still has gaps. Of course it does. Disability is enormous. There are experiences in this guide that aren’t mine.

There are requirements I’ve probably underexplored. There will be things I’ve completely failed to think about. I want to be clear about that rather than pretending one disabled writer can produce The Definitive Disabled Festival Bible™. If you have lived experience navigating festivals with access requirements I haven’t properly represented, please tell me. Especially around things like:

• blindness and low vision
• Deafness and hearing loss
• wheelchair and mobility-device use
• chronic fatigue and energy-limiting conditions
• diabetes
• ostomies
• catheters
• continence
• epilepsy
• seizures
• migraine
• photosensitivity
• allergies and anaphylaxis
• intellectual disability
• acquired brain injury
• communication disabilities
• feeding requirements
• assistance animals
• temperature regulation
• complex medical equipment
• invisible disability
• chronic pain
• respiratory conditions
• ARFID and sensory eating
• anything I’ve completely failed to name

And I don’t only want equipment recommendations. Tell me about systems. How do you plan your day? What do you ask the accessibility team? What makes camping possible? What do you do when the ground becomes mud? How do you deal with toilets? How do you manage a sudden change in capacity? What happens if you’re separated from the person supporting you?

What’s the thing mainstream festival guides never mention? What weird little object have you repurposed into something brilliant? What cheap adaptation has saved your weekend? What accessibility product turned out to be completely useless? What should festivals themselves be providing so disabled people don’t have to carry the solution?

That last question matters. Because sometimes the answer really is: clip this to that. Sometimes it’s: bring a better chair. Sometimes it’s: here’s a fantastic communication system another disabled person showed me. And sometimes it’s: why the hell are disabled attendees expected to solve this themselves?

Those are different conversations. We need all of them. You can be credited, anonymous, first-name-only, whatever you’re comfortable with. Because your solution might unlock something for somebody else. Maybe someone goes to their first festival. Maybe somebody who stopped attending after becoming disabled finds a way back.

Maybe another neurodivergent person discovers why festivals have always exhausted them and realises they’re allowed to accommodate themselves. Maybe someone gets to stay for the artist they thought they’d have to miss. Maybe we collectively invent an alarmingly sophisticated ecosystem of carabiners. We can help each other have a better time.

We can help each other avoid mistakes. We can share adaptations. We can make intimidating things feel possible. And we can keep demanding better when the responsibility should sit with organisers rather than us. So, no. This guide isn’t finished. I hope it never completely is.

Unruly Fam: What Should We Add?

Tell me what saves your festival. I’ll keep listening. I’ll keep adding. Pack for your actual body. Pack for your actual brain. Pack for capacity. And take the bloody teddy.

Stay unruly.