Debbie Matthews: ‘We want a place we can go and hide for 10 minutes’| Chris Cook

Battling through a Festival-week crowd at Cheltenham racecourse is a significant challenge for anyone and much more so for anyone who suffers from social anxieties. But Debbie Matthews, who has spent years learning to cope with her mental health issues, will bravely put herself in the heart of that crowd on Wednesday week, partly to promote her drive for racecourses to recognise the needs of people like her and partly to show support for Altior, the star horse who has provided a kind of therapy for her.

It was a trip to Ascot in January to see Altior that brought Matthews some sudden fame within racing, thanks to a series of articles about her in the Racing Post over the following week. Little more than a month later Matthews is gratified by the response. “I’ve got a massive amount of public support,” she says, settling into the empty racecourse cafe at Newbury as the earliest arrivals for Saturday’s race-meeting trickle through the gates. “I think I’ve now got in excess of 1,000 messages, be that emails or through Twitter, from members of the public that are really behind what I’m trying to achieve.

“This is not just people with social anxieties, it’s people who have children with ADHD or sensory disorders, who would like to come racing. But it’s not a suitable environment at the moment. Those people can be sensitive to things like noise, visual stimulation or even smells. Racecourses being quite big, busy, noisy places, they’re obviously not an ideal situation for that. I don’t have sensory issues but even for me it’s quite overwhelming.”

Matthews’ intervention has focused minds on a subject that has seemingly gone unnoticed in horse racing. Her ideas were met with immediate interest, including from Jockey Club Racecourses, who have begun exploratory discussions with her as to what action might be possible at their 15 tracks, which include Cheltenham, Aintree and Epsom.

“I think all racecourses have an access statement for people that have physical disabilities,” she says. “What I’m trying to push for – that racecourses have an invisible access statement – is a new thing. It probably isn’t something that people have been thinking about unless, like me, they’ve been affected by things like social anxieties or mental health issues.”

Matthews is well placed to assist, not just because of her own experience but because her whole working life has been in tourism. She runs a consultancy business called Successful Stays and worked on Visit England’s guide to developing accessible destinations. She has now developed what she calls her Go Racing Green package, and hopes racecourses will find it attractive commercially – as a means of broadening the appeal of their venues, as well as something they should be pursuing out of simple fairness.

“The plan is to go to the racecourse, give them an assessment of what they can do with the facilities they already have, to provide safe spaces, quiet spaces, provide Dementia Friends training, autism awareness training and follow-up support.” She can also assist with the sensitive business of how racecourses should then let that audience know this work has been done and that their track should now be a more welcoming place.

“With physical accessibility, you are usually having to fork out money to put in ramps and lifts and toilet facilities, whereas with invisible accessibility it’s more about working with the facilities you already have.

“I had a meeting at one track and they said, ‘Are you expecting a box?’ No, we’re not asking for VIP treatment. If you’ve got a room anywhere that you’re not using that day, or if you want to stick a gazebo up and stick some fold-up chairs and a couple of tables in there, that’s fine. We’re not saying, ‘Look at us, we’re special, we want the best views.’ We’re just asking for one little space where, if it all gets a little bit overwhelming, we can go and hide for 10 minutes. We’re certainly not asking for gold-ticket treatment, just a bit of consideration.”

Matthews feels that, in an understandable wish to fill their bars and restaurants, racecourses may have forgotten that not all their customers are interested in food and drink. “I probably don’t move from the parade ring and the winner’s enclosure because I want to be as close to the horses as possible. That’s what engages me, that’s what makes me forget that I’m out and I might be anxious. I come here for the horses and that’s it.”

Thanks to her raised profile, Matthews has been building a Go Racing Green community of people who recognise each other by wearing green ribbons or the green bobble hats sold through her blog; these were paid for by the trainer Tom Lacey, with profits being divided between Samaritans and the Retraining of Racehorses charity. “My social anxiety hasn’t been cured but coming here is helping me because there’s other people out there saying: ‘I’m the same as you, I get you, you need to really push, because we would come racing as well.’ And that’s what’s spurring me on.”

Fakenham 2.10 Swaffham Bulbeck 2.40 Conas Taoi 3.10 Uno Mas 3.45 Molliana 4.15 Truckers Tangle (nb) 4.50 Lyndsays Lad

Southwell 2.20 Ut Majeur Aulmes 2.50 Mr Love 3.20 River Bray 3.55 Shantung 4.25 Roser Moter 5.00 Rodeo Dodo (nap) 5.30 Winningseverything

Wolverhampton 5.45 Arrowzone 6.15 Aguerooo 6.45 Mootasadir 7.15 Chevallier 7.45 Questionare 8.15 Sundiata

Tips by Chris Cook

source: theguardian.com