Accessibility for Whom?
I will
start this blog by stating that I am privileged. I am white, educated, middle
class and sound of mind and body. I am privileged in a society that rewards the
color of my skin, the status of my economic state and the physical and mental
acuity of my body and mind. I recognize that. I have recognized that privilege
and intellectually understood the benefits it has offered for a while now.
Yesterday was the first time I emotionally
understood some of the obstacles and hostility faced by those who are not
blessed with my privilege.
I took thirty high school students
from Central New Jersey into New York to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Let me start by
saying, the show is brilliant. Moving and electric, it offers a glimpse through
the lens of what it must be like to be a person on the autism spectrum
navigating our world – with its confusing kaleidoscope of sounds, sights and
ever shifting rules. It also starkly highlights how intolerant and impatient we
are of those who we perceive to be outside the “norm”. Watching Christopher try
to navigate a society who doesn’t understand him or have the patience to try is
devastating.
However,
what happened with the staff at the Barrymore Theatre was in some ways, more
devastating. One of my young people is in a wheelchair. When we ordered our
group tickets (at a group discount rate of $79 a ticket – expensive for the
young people in my community), I made multiple phone calls to Telecharge and to
the Barrymore to insure there was wheelchair accessible seating. There is, in
fact, wheelchair seating in the orchestra section. $79 seats provides seating
in the Rear Mezzanine, two floors up. There is no elevator in the Barrymore. I
called and made sure my student had a wheelchair accessible seat so she could
come to the show as well. I was assured that there was a wheelchair accessible
seat she could transfer to, and a seat for her aide, at no additional cost.
Great,
right? We got to the Barrymore, to discover all seats were in the Rear
Mezzanine. This is when things got ugly. I went to the box office to sort it
out, while the students went to lunch with the chaperones. I pointed out that
the “wheelchair accessible” seat was in the Rear Mezzanine. The Box Office
staff asked could my student transfer from her chair to the theatre seat. I
said yes. They said okay. I asked, “How does she get to her chair? It’s on the
third floor!” They said, well if she needs to sit in her wheelchair, you should
have asked for a wheelchair accessible seat.
I said, “I did”. They asked, “can she transfer from her chair to the
seat?” I said, “Yes” They said, “she’s fine then” and once again, I asked,
becoming more frustrated, “How does she GET to the third floor?” This went
round and round until the box office personal YELLED at me, “This isn’t our
fault! If YOU wanted wheelchair seats, you should have called and asked for
them. Now we have to take a seat OUT and allow for a wheelchair in the
auditorium.” Big dramatic sighs... "we'll have to call Telecharge" (sigh) "Wait over there" (sigh). It was clear that having a student in a wheelchair was a burden to the Barrymore Theatre staff and they were going to make sure we understood how difficult we were making their lives.
Despite the
fact I had requested wheelchair
accessible seating, it was an attitude that the staff was granting me a “favor” I found embarrassing, humiliating and disconcerting. I found myself apologizing for
“inconveniencing” them – when in fact, I shouldn’t apologize for anything.
This was a
moment of emotional epiphany for me. I have always been intellectually aware of
the obstacles our society places for those who are not physically, emotionally
or mentally considered “mainstream”. However, this was an emotional moment,
when I felt so embarrassed to be asking for something that the theatre felt was
a exceptional privilege. A special gifting to me by the powers that be. My
request for a seat for a person who had paid to see the show, now was a huge
event that required me to grovel and placate and utter platitudes in order to
get the same basic service that any other patron would demand and receive. I
watched person after person walk in and receive more courteous service than I
had. I watched person after person walk in, ask for a seat in the middle, a
seat on the aisle, a seat on the left or the right, up or down, more or less
expensive. Never once were they yelled at, or made to feel like giving them a
seat was an inconvenience or a special event.
Why do we go so far out of our way to humiliate and
inconvenience those who already face obstacles every single day? For my
student, just navigating the sidewalks and hallways and buses is an obstacle –
which she handles with grace and poise. Why then is it necessary to add
humiliation to that?
At the end, they did provide her with wheelchair accessible
seating in the orchestra section and the box office person apologized for
yelling at me. I accepted his apology but found myself emotional for days
afterwards.
For this to occur is outrageous. For this to occur at a
Broadway show that encourages people to view the world through the lens of
someone who doesn’t fit our societal “norms” is unacceptable. From the
box office to the ushers; everyone we ran into that day – angry doormen when we
unloaded our bus and took the extra five minutes for the ramp to go down; angry
motorists when we crossed the street and the potholes were so bad, she got
stuck and it took two of us to get the chair out; to the box office clerk (who
thankfully my student never met) - made it clear that despite all our language
about accessibility and opportunity, the American society is punishing to those
who aren’t physically, mentally or emotionally mainstream.