Wheelchairs and theatres

Debt_Free_Chick

daska wrote: »

Most people, when booking tickets, expect the seats to be together

I beg to differ in the case of wheelchair users and those booking on their behalf. They do not expect to be seated with others in their party as they are fully aware that the wheelchair needs to be specially accommodated. It's no different at football and other sports stadia - wheelchairs can not be accommodated in the centre of a row in the centre of the stadium. More often than not, wheelchair users are situated - separately - at the very front of the seating area.

Think about it for a moment ... it's simply not possible to seat a party of say, five, together if one includes a wheelchair user. The W/C user can not occupy a standard seat so the party can not be seated in a standard row; and if his/her four companions were to be seated with the W/C user, they would occupy spaces usually reserved for other W/C users.

Most theatres - other than those built in recent years - simply do not have spaces created with W/C users in mind, given that they were probably constructed more than 100 years ago. Where spaces exist for W/C users, it's a compromise and not an ideal solution.

And I maintain that W/C users do not - by definition - necessarily need the constant companionship of a carer.

longhotbath

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

And I maintain that W/C users do not - by definition - necessarily need the constant companionship of a carer.

.

My son who is a wheelchair user needs and adult carer with him at ALL times. He has significant and ongoing medical needs and needs 24 hour care as well as severe physical disabilities, but full cognitive abilities.

When I book tickets for him for any activity, I have to discuss fully with the management team what his (and if necessary our) needs are.

Homemade_2

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

And I maintain that W/C users do not - by definition - necessarily need the constant companionship of a carer.

Quite true, however, you will find that the majority of places (not just theartres and areans) will require that all wheelchair users be accommpanied by someone (a carer) as stipulated by their insurance.
Hence why so many places do not take or accommodate wheelchair users on their own.

Invasion

Thankyou for replies, DMG, once again a good idea, so thanks for that, will contact both the arena and Peter Kay's management team, we're about equa-distant from both Manchester and Birmingham, around an hours journey for both.

Sue, both my parents will be sat in the row in front of me I think, though not sure how far along from me they'll be.

It has to be said that I did expect to be seated with at least one person I knew, as someone else said (Jaz?) that's part of the experience! Surely the fact that it's just wheelchair using disabled people makes it entirely unfair, I do understand about safety regulations etc. I don't need constant care for the 2 hours or so duration, but I will need some, I spoke to dad who apparently did not specify explicitly that I'd need a carer, but we did ask about carers discount, and got it, which would imply the need of a carer maybe? That part can hopefully be rectified.

More than the care part of this is that we were not told upon booking that we would not be seated together, something admitted by the person we spoke to when we phoned up to query the tickets.

I'm just frustrated, and fed up of things having to be different for me, whether that be not being able to participate, or having to make adjustments- such as sitting with strangers. I'm not particularly anxious, but the thought of it makes me want to cry, as much as anything because once again, I feel left out and utterly useless and helpless to change that.

Trialia, it would be lovely to meet you, I think the date is sometime in April.

I did ask about parking, and whether it was free with a BB because a) spaces for BB holders often are- I can't travel using public transport, nor can I park in a street further away from the arena and park for free/cheaply there, because of the need to be close to the venue and b) to know whether I need to take £10 in pound coins with me!

LW, MK theatre sounds like it has a lovely set up

Again, thanks for helpful replies!

daska

daska wrote: »

Most able-bodiedpeople, when booking tickets, expect the seats to be together and in my experience theatres will always point out to able bodied people when they are unable to provide adjacent seats because they expect able-bodied people to want to sit together.

Therefore, to not offer this courtesy because one of the party is disabled is surely discrimination in that it is treating the disabled person differently simply because they are disabled.

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

I beg to differ in the case of wheelchair users and those booking on their behalf. They do not expect to be seated with others in their party as they are fully aware that the wheelchair needs to be specially accommodated. It's no different at football and other sports stadia - wheelchairs can not be accommodated in the centre of a row in the centre of the stadium. More often than not, wheelchair users are situated - separately - at the very front of the seating area.

Think about it for a moment ... it's simply not possible to seat a party of say, five, together if one includes a wheelchair user. The W/C user can not occupy a standard seat so the party can not be seated in a standard row; and if his/her four companions were to be seated with the W/C user, they would occupy spaces usually reserved for other W/C users.

Most theatres - other than those built in recent years - simply do not have spaces created with W/C users in mind, given that they were probably constructed more than 100 years ago. Where spaces exist for W/C users, it's a compromise and not an ideal solution.

And I maintain that W/C users do not - by definition - necessarily need the constant companionship of a carer.

You're talking about disabled people, I'm talking about able bodied people. If you ring up to book tickets you will be told if they can't seat you together.

To not bother to tell the person at time of booking that the seats are in different areas just because one of the party is disabled is treating that person less favourably because of their disability.

added clarity in red I'm not talking about the logistics of where people get placed just about the booking policy

fedupconsumer

Sorry to hijack on this thread but Swansea grand theater have a woeful disabled policy offering no complimentary carer and also not allowing us to sit where the wheelchair seats would be, we are not in wheelchairs but need extra room, we were told we cannot sell you those places as wheelchair users would miss out. So we as disabled people have to miss out due to their ignorance of disability and inability to provide for disabled people that are not in wheelchairs, who need specialist seating.

mrscb

I took my DS who is in a wheelchair to the theatre and explained the situation to the staff...It was cheaper for me to get a box(how posh) for the two of us than the usual carer and wheelchair spaces...
Also my son likes to sit in a 'normal' seat so we always have a right carry on booking things!!

longhotbath

mrscb wrote: »

I took my DS who is in a wheelchair to the theatre and explained the situation to the staff...It was cheaper for me to get a box(how posh) for the two of us than the usual carer and wheelchair spaces...
Also my son likes to sit in a 'normal' seat so we always have a right carry on booking things!!

Ohh - that sounds like a good idea!

Invasion

That's interesting!

rogjen

How awful for you, I would write a letter of complaint, what is the point of going to the theatre with your family and then having to sit on your own, just because you have a disability. Good luck let us know how you get on.:mad: