Tottenham Hotspur proudly supports Unite For Access

The Club is proud to support ‘Unite for Access’, a campaign run by charity Level Playing Field that celebrates and promotes access and inclusion at sports venues.

The focus of this year’s campaign is non-visible disabilities, drawing focus onto the challenges faced by those without visible impairments at sporting events. Ahead of Saturday’s game we spoke to Dee Bright, Chair of the Club’s official disabled supporters’ association SpursAbility, about the importance of the campaign.

“You feel like you’re a part of it, that you’re not being excluded," says Dee. "Life is a big struggle for a lot of people, and it’s so important to feel like you have been thought of.”

Dee joined the SpursAbility committee four years ago, before taking up the role as Chair following the last election, but she has been a loyal supporter of the Club for far longer.

“I was looking for football that entertained me, and I saw what Tottenham were doing with Gazza and Lineker – the football was always great. David Ginola was also bit of a draw, I am not going to lie!”

Dee lives with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare condition that affects the connective tissues in the body, impacting on her day-to-day life.

“I’ve always had problems with pain in my life”, she explains. “I went into horse racing when I left school and my aim was to become a jockey, but I spent a lot of my youth in physiotherapy. It was only when I went to an osteopathic school where one of my professors realised that my knees were bent backwards. He referred me to a neurologist who told me I had the condition, and that the fact I was physically active had held off the worst of the symptoms for a long time.

“Being in constant pain isn’t fun, and you use up so much energy keeping your body in place. On a bad day, I don’t get out of bed.”

Dee’s disability is non-visible, and so in addition to her day-to-day challenges, she faces the prejudices associated with people being unaware of her condition.

“It is mentally tiring – you’re constantly fighting against it”, she explains. “The prevailing attitude is ‘well she looks fine’. The same could be said for my daughter who has ADHD and autism, people look at her and say, ‘well there is nothing wrong.”

Matchdays involve a significant degree of planning for Dee and her son Owen, who has Down’s Syndrome, as she explains. “It is a tactical exercise to get there. When I am going to watch a match, I rest for two or three days before, and have to rest two or three days after.

“We usually arrive 90 minutes before kick-off and go to the 3 Points Café to have a nice full English or something tasty, before walking to get Owen’s audio descriptive headset from the access officer. When we get to White Hart Lane station, Owen’s excitement gets to beyond just a roar. He is normally the first off the train shouting ‘Come on You Spurs!”

The Stadium offers dedicated accessible entrances for both home & away fans, as well as 250 wheelchair accessible bays, 500 dedicated easily accessible seats and a Sensory Suite, located in the North Stand, for supporters with sensory impairment conditions.

“From having the audio description, to having the ability to use the sensory room if you need it, to being able to take your guide dog. There is so much, and I know the Club are constantly looking to improve”, Dee says.

“Having British Sign Language on the big screens for the first-time last year was amazing. It included people who didn’t feel included. It is so important that the Club and its stewards acknowledge there are a wide range of disabilities, and all our needs are different. It is being acknowledged as a human being, which a lot of places don’t. I think that’s a massive part of it, understanding that word inclusion, and bringing everyone in. Having that representation.”

2023 was a record-breaking year for involvement in Level Playing Field’s campaign, but the charity is looking to go bigger in raising awareness across all aspects of life.

“We have about 25 per cent of people in this country with some sort of disability, and we are not accommodated for. How many shops have steps? How many sports grounds don’t have reasonable accessible features?

“Take the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, these things have been thought about at the planning phase, it is already accommodated for. Level Playing Field are there continually driving best practice across the industry”.

For fans arriving to the game early, you will be able to catch a pre-match pitchside interview with Dee, broadcast live on the big screens.