THEATER WHEELCHAIR ACCESS

Theaters are set up so that people sit in seats above the person in front of them, so that the view is not blocked. In order to get the maximum number of seats into a theater, the seats are close together and all seats are the same size.

There are several problems with getting a wheelchair into the theater's seating.

1. Wheelchairs vary in height, so that a wheelchair in front of a normal seat may block the view of the person sitting behind the wheelchair.

2. Most theaters use stairs as the way that people get to their seats. This means that wheelchair seating is only possible where there are no stairs.

3. Theater seats are very close together, leaving very little room to walk between the seats. A wheelchair almost always takes up more space than a row of seating.

Personally, I think that putting wheelchair people in the first row, transferring the person from the chair to the seat, and removing the wheelchair until the performance is over, can be the best alternative. I know of NO THEATER who does this.

I have been seated at the goal post on ground level at football games which I attended only to watch the marching band. It is difficult to watch the patterns of the band from ground level. It is difficult to see the band from 50 yards away.

Many times, I have been seated on the edge of the theater seating. Generally, when sitting on the edge, the performance is somewhat lopsided.

Last time I went to the Shark Tank, many years ago, the only wheelchair seating available was in the most expensive seating area. Unless you were willing to pay premium prices, you could not attend using a wheelchair.

Often, the wheelchairs are put at the top of the seating, so that no one else is bothered by the wheelchair. This means that wheelchair people get the worst seats in the house.

Some local movie theaters have wheelchair seating right before a balcony. Sometimes this seating is in the center of the seating. These theaters are the ones I attend when using my wheelchair. However, I know that the seating in the center of the theaters was only achieved by disabled people suing the theaters.

Please understand that I am ALWAYS early for the theater, so that I can get whatever wheelchair seating is available, and so that if there are difficulties, they can be worked out. Even so, I dread going to a new theater, because I am never certain of the difficulties I will encounter.