walking . is . overrated

I was booking tickets to a show in Melbourne next month (holiday, yay!) and I was asked if I had a “Companion Card”, which allowed a companion to come to the show for free. Intrigued, I jumped online and had a look.

Wow. This is one sweet card.

If you’d rather not hear me ramble about how I want to lobby our Government to get one of these up and running, cut to the chase and visit the Victoria Companion Card site now.

Well, here goes. This Companion Card basically entitles anyone who relies on companion support at events to get a 2-for-1 admission ticket. So those of us whose impairments mean we need help to pay over the counter, eat food/drink, transfer to seats/bathroom stuff, or anything else, get a free companion ticket to heaps of events. Sport, music, theatre and more.

I think this is an absolutely fantastic initiative. What’s really great is that the Card is targeted. You can’t get it “just coz you have a disability”. You have to have a genuine dependency on support people in order to qualify. Check out these stats from the last Companion Card survey:

• A large proportion of cardholders ( about 75%) said that now they have a Companion Card, they often go out to new places.
• Since having the card, cardholders had more than doubled the number of times they go out from an average of 16 outings per year to 37 outings per year.
• Half of cardholders interviewed said the card had improved their social networks.
  About 70% of cardholders said that having the card maens that more people are willing to accompany them to venues.
• 78% of cardholders said their life had changed since receiving the card. This included increased feelings of social inclusion, confidence, and dignity.

(from the Victoria Companion Card site)

These are massive stats, and something I believe our govt (central or local) would be well-placed to throw their support behind!

What about you guys? Do you see a need for this kind of thing? Is it something that would benefit you? Let me know in the comments below!