Forsyth Barr Stadium has earned praise, plaudits and a platinum award for the quality of its disability access features.
Dunedin's roofed stadium has been named as one of four New Zealand stadiums to earn platinum status for the quality of its disability access surveys.
The award followed an inspection in September by Disability Information Service Inc information consultant John Marrable, of Dunedin, on behalf of Auckland-based group Be Institute, as part of its Be Accessible campaign.
The campaign aimed to promote accessibility for people with disabilities across New Zealand, Be Institute chief executive Minnie Baragwanath said.
The award meant Forsyth Barr Stadium joined Eden Park, Westpac Stadium and Arena Manawatu as stadiums with platinum status, the top award. Seven other stadiums earned gold or silver status.
Mr Marrable was full of praise for Forsyth Barr Stadium's disability features when contacted by the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
As a fan, he had visited twice for rugby matches, and again for Sir Elton John's concert last month, as well as carrying out his Be Accessible inspection separately during September.
He found only minor faults during his inspection, including missing horizontal handrails inside disability toilets, and had heard only a few anecdotal complaints about wind chilling those using some of the venue's 100 disability seats.
"Everyone else has just raved about how fantastic the [disability] seating is, especially in the north stand, because you're about five rows back ... Considering the amount of people that have been through the stadium, they've done a really good job. The facilities are fantastic."
His comments came after planning for Rugby World Cup matches in Dunedin prompted concern from some that people with disabilities were being ignored, claims which were rejected at the time by Dunedin City Council and Dunedin Venues Management Ltd staff.
CCS Disability Action southern regional manager Paul Martin yesterday told the ODT he had also heard positive comments about the venue's performance for people with disabilities.
He was impressed by the way the council's planning for disability access to and from the venue had been put into practice, helped by collaboration with disability groups.
"We'd certainly like to see more of that collaboration to ensure that any other sort of major events like that are fully accessible."
