Navigating the 700-acre Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival can be a hassle for many Bonnaroovians. But as a visually impaired, first-time festivalgoer, I was especially nervous about navigating the grassy, muddy and dusty festival grounds. 

I was born with septo-optic dysplasia, a rare eye condition that left me near-sighted, legally blind, sensitive to light and with nystagmus in both eyes.

I’m no stranger to issues with unfamiliar settings, but with the help of visual aids like binoculars and orientation & mobility training, my vision and mobility improved in my teens.

I was thrilled when a class at MTSU offered me and seven other journalism students the opportunity to cover Bonnaroo.

For me, this wasn’t another class; it was a chance to get real-world experience in my major–entertainment journalism. 

But after the initial excitement wore off, I became troubled by the possibility that my visual impairment might interfere with my experience. I dreaded failure. I feared collecting information for stories, missing deadlines and getting lost in crowds. 

I worried about tight crowds causing me to arrive late to sets, making me miss the opportunity to be closer to the stage, or my close-distance vision failing me while trying to report on the artist on the stage.

A tour around Bonnaroo before the festival started quelled some of my fears. After taking a few laps around Centeroo, where the main festivities occurred, I spent the rest of the day roaming the grounds with no problems. 

But Bonnaroo nightlife was an entirely different beast; no guidance cane or visual aid could ease my strenuous journey. While lasers from the raves lit up the sky and trees glowed with LEDs, the lights did nothing to light up the grounds that were, to me, pitch black. 

While heading to a set in the “This Tent” to cover a set for the Nashville Scene, I struggled through the dense exuberant crowds. To my relief, my earlier solo trip around Centeroo helped, and I made it to the set. 

Despite that triumph, returning to the press lounge after the performance was a hassle. I slowly stumbled across Centeroo with strained vision, squinting through the darkness. 

I found myself going in circles, so I walked back to the set and started over, telling myself, “Keep going straight.”

Fortunately, familiarity returned once I neared the media tent, and I located the press lounge by a glowing tree near the entrance; at least some of the LED-covered trees are helpful. 

My classmates and I returned to the grounds prepared for more performances and reporting the next day, but Mother Nature had other plans. 

Once rain hit The Farm, the grounds became even more spongy than they already were. Before we knew it, we were trudging through ankle-deep mud and puddles back to the van, waiting for the severe weather to blow through the area.

We shifted from reporting on music to covering the weather. Some student reporters made breaking news updates on the weather from the van, while others ventured into the campgrounds to see how the campers handled the rain. 

I had a classmate hold my hand on the way to Centeroo because my poor depth perception began hindering me, and I couldn’t determine how deep puddles may be. 

At this point, the grounds were unsafe for many, and I could only imagine how others with mobility issues navigated in the mud and water. 

While other students remained stuck in various areas of the farm, I sat in the van with my professor and two other classmates, where we compiled stories and waited for weather updates.

The seven-hour wait ended in a sudden announcement from Bonnaroo via social media. 

“We are beyond gutted, but we must make the safest decision and cancel the remainder of Bonnaroo,” the Instagram post said.

I left grateful to be a media student who had the privilege of scoping out the grounds before they opened. While Bonnaroo has accessibility services that offer a one-time guided tour of the grounds, nothing was a better visual aid for me than being there before the festival started. 

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