And it shows.

A prospective gallery-goer who has motor neurone disease was surprised to discover at the weekend that he would have to join the prodigious queue and wait for at least two hours with everyone else.

This was despite having a pre-booked ticket and calling beforehand to explain that his disease meant he was unable to stand for long periods of time, much less walk through the exhibition once the wait was over.

But aside from offering him a wheelchair to sit in for as long as it took for the queue to wind through to the exhibition entrance, gallery staff maintained that there was no way the man could be let in ahead of other ticket holders.

The man, who did not want to be named, said yesterday that he had been offended to be offered a wheelchair, as he had so far avoided having to use one and intended to do so for as long as possible. ''Part of dealing with this disease is not capitulating to it,'' he said. ''To be put in a wheelchair for two hours is completely unacceptable.''

He said he emailed the gallery with his concerns and received a swift response, and will now be able to go to the exhibition this afternoon without lining up.

For more on this story, see the print edition of today's Canberra Times.