All Access at Good Day Sunshine: Why Inclusive Events Matter for Everyone

At Advocacy WA, we believe that events should welcome every member of our community. Festivals, concerts, markets, and local gatherings are more than entertainment, they are places where people connect, belong, and participate in community life. When people with disability cannot attend because access barriers haven’t been considered, the whole community misses out.

This year, we were proud to bring our All Access Event Review team to Good Day Sunshine, one of the South West’s favourite music festivals. Our reviewers spent the day on site, exploring the event from the perspective of real lived experience and sharing insights that only people with disability can provide.

Their contributions do more than identify what needs improving. They help shift how events are planned, designed, and delivered so that inclusion becomes a standard, not an afterthought.

Why Lived Experience Matters

All of our reviewers either live with disability or are careers or support workers, and for many of them this was their first time ever attending a major event. Not because they didn’t want to go, but because for years they were worried about:

• Getting around safely
• Finding accessible toilets
• Knowing where to rest
• Navigating noise, crowds, or overwhelming spaces
• Whether their support needs would be understood

These concerns are real, and they stop people from participating in community life.

Attending Good Day Sunshine as reviewers gave our team the chance to:

• Experience the event through their own access needs
• Identify what worked well
• Highlight where barriers still exist
• Show organisers what genuine inclusion looks like

Their insight is powerful because it comes from lived experience. It reflects the real world, not assumptions.

Why Accessible Events Matter for Our Community

Our work is guided by a clear vision: creating a South West where people with disability can participate fully, confidently, and joyfully in community life.

Accessible events support:

• Connection – People with disability feel welcomed and valued
• Safety – Environments support comfort, dignity, and wellbeing
• Rights – Everyone can take part, just as the broader community does
• Representation – Event organisers hear directly from the people who understand access barriers best

The All Access review team is one of the many ways we promote inclusion across the region. It also supports the broader goal of strengthening community participation and belonging, a key outcome of our peer support, advocacy, and disability awareness initiatives .

Why Organisers Love the All Access Review Program

Event organisers benefit from:

• Practical recommendations rooted in real lived experience
• Observations that improve safety, flow, and comfort for all attendees
• Evidence to guide continuous improvement and strengthen inclusion strategies
• A collaborative process that elevates the voices of people with disability

When events commit to access, the entire community wins — better layout, clearer signage, more resting spaces, better communication, and improved planning.

Join the All Access Review Team

If you are a person with disability who wants to help shape more accessible and inclusive events across the South West, our team would love to meet you.

You do not need prior experience. You do not need to be confident attending events yet. Many of our reviewers started exactly where you are now.

What you do need is a willingness to share your experiences so that events can learn, improve, and truly welcome everyone.

If you want to join our All Access Review Team, click here:
https://forms.office.com/r/a2a3dAehPT

Together We Create Change

Good Day Sunshine showed what is possible when event organisers, advocates, and people with disability work side by side. This work supports the long-term goal of building inclusive, thriving communities where everyone belongs.

Thank you to our reviewers for their courage. Thank you to Good Day Sunshine for their openness and collaboration. And thank you to the South West community for valuing accessibility as a shared responsibility.

Inclusion is not a checklist. It is a commitment to listening, learning, and improving so that every person — regardless of access needs — can show up, join in, and feel part of something bigger.

And that is the kind of community we are proud to help build.

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