Arts Access Advocates
Travelling as an artist is more challenging when you have a disability as firstly you need to find someone to go with. I have been lucky as I have my family but as they retire, I would have to seek alternative solutions to agency care. Psychological screenings, I expect, will be essential but that's going off-topic.
Another problem is the extra expense. Two plane tickets instead of one make a huge difference. I also don't like sharing hotel rooms. However, I would stay at other people's houses if that was an option. It was definitely useful to have a cute boyfriend in Auckland who liked me staying with him when I came up from Christchurch.
Similarly you are restricted to wheelchair taxis instead of cheaper taxi cars or a newer service like Lyft, I wouldn't use their more popular competitor starting with U if you paid me. They have proved to be absolutely terrible regarding workers' rights.
Proposing solutions
When I blog I like to propose solutions, in addition to ranting. My solution for the extra expense would be to have a carer fund. You could do this through crowd funding. Side note: after I wrote this, I decided to use the word "assistant" instead of carer. When you reach a certain stage you could work the assistant's expenses into your budget but that still means getting to a certain level and taking less money home than regular artists. Am I missing something? Let me know.
Some comedians like going to small towns. I am not one of them and not just because the accessibility tends to be rubbish. However, on that note it is just logical that if there are limited options for accommodation there is more chance of it being below your expectations. If I ever got more involved in stand-up comedy again it would be worthwhile going to different audiences so small towns would be something that I would have to consider doing even though I am a big-city guy.
Sit-to-stand wheelchair
You may not be able to take all of your equipment: for example, standing frames. Not being able to take equipment might be an issue on long trips. You might have to learn to cope or rent a bigger vehicle such as a bus. I don't have a standing frame but I have just got a sit-to-stand wheelchair, which achieves the same thing. Perhaps you can make equipment more compact.
I personally love travelling for work but it can be difficult and requires some thinking.
