BLIND BOWLERS SEE RED OVER CONCESSION INCREASE

I know times are hard for any business but for Hollywood Bowl at Gunwharf Quays Portsmouth it does seem to be effecting them a little more although it seems that way. 

David Daniels approached me back in February telling me that the concessions rate for the disabled are being withdrawn during the school half terms and summer holidays. 

The manager told David this and he thought that it was out of order so he contacted us about it. 

Losing My Sight Magazine got right onto the case and tried to make contact with Hollywood Bowl who own Bowlplex, but they did not reply to our email, so we contacted our local friendly newspaper ‘The News Portsmouth’ and they kindly helped us to make contact with Hollywood Bowl so we could get our complaint across. 

As to most stories there are always two sides of the coin and we wanted Hollywood Bowl to put their side across to us. It turns out surprisingly, management either changed their mind or did not explain things clearly enough. We were told that concessions are in place at the Bowlplex for 48 weeks of the year,  which include easter and the summer holidays, this was not what David was told back in February. 

Hollywood Bowl has since apologised and given us all a free game as a matter of good a will gesture, to which we are all thankful for. When the story hit the local paper there were a few readers who in a way were a little disrespectful towards our disability, in fact one saying that until Facebook have braille he would sleep easy at night.  It is a shame how ignorant this person can be because i am not sure if he realises that firstly just because your registered blind, it does not mean you can not see or in fact read comments like that on Facebook. Or even if you are blind this person again does not understand that blind people can still read by using a screen reader. I will not name this person because there was a few people defending us on Facebook and i would like to say thank you for this.

Another person also mentioned that the increase in concession were in place back in October last year, however it was unfortunate that we did not learn of them until February this year. 

May I also mention the fact us blind people did not complain just to get a free game on Bowlplex, that was not our intention. We complained on behalf of ALL DISABLED GROUPS and their carers as well as the elderly who go bowling. 

Lastly we would like to thank The News Portsmouth for helping us and a warm thank you to Hollywood Bowl for their kind response. 

A final message for all the people who gave us a negative response on Facebook, wether you were just joking and meant no harm there are some visually impaired people out there who could take your comments seriously. So please next time think before you type because one day you or your loved ones may suffer with sight loss issues in the future and it is not pleasant, trust me i know. 

Story by : Dave Taylor