Audience Member to Sue HAMILTON Citing Lack of Accommodation for Blind Patrons — Page 2

No one is stating otherwise newintown.

Did I or did I not say 'some of you'

aaaaaa15 said: "Did I or did I not say 'some of you'"

Well, aren't we a testy bitch this afternoon.

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "aaaaaa15 said: "Did I or did I not say 'some of you'"

Well, aren't we a testy bitch this afternoon."

Ah yes misogynistic language always helps though.

rjm516 said: ""Racist is racist"

You guys need to learn about issues before you say ignorant things. You cannot be racist against white people. That is not a thing. Just like you cannot have sexism against males. That is not a thing. You can be prejudiced against white people, or men, sure, you can hate them, of course. But the institution of racism (and sexism) are words with meanings, about negative behavior towards those minorities without the power in that dynamic. You can't flip them around to make your cheap points in an attempt to show how clever and beyond PC you are or something. Stop doing that.



Refreshing to read something from someone with knowledge, conviction AND a conscience. BRAVO!!!

kade.ivy said: "I don't know about this specific case, but I do know that the front-of-house staff was incredibly generous when I visited the show.

This is certainly not the same as a disability accessibility issue, but it does show the generosity of the staff at the Richard Rodgers. I'm...significantly overweight. I know it. Everyone who sees me knows it. When I see a show, I buy an aisle seat and am usually fine. I saw 9 shows my last trip, and the Rodgers was the only theatre in which I had a fit issue. Anyway, the head usher in the rear mezzanine told me as I walked in that I might be uncomfortable and that she could put a freestanding chair to the side behind the boxes if that worked better. I went up to check my seat, and sure enough, it was MISERABLE. I went back down, and she kindly put chairs for my mom and me to the side of the front mezz directly behind the boxes. Super nice, and something she didn't have to do!

I wish I had checked her name to send my compliments to the Nederlanders. Does anyone know her here? She was a very spunky African American lady who looked to be in her 60s. She made a fun announcement to the mezz about cell phone use before the show! Great experience!



"

I'm blanking on her name but I know exactly who you're talking about. She, and that announcement, have been there for years. On more than one occasion during In the Heights, I remember people applauding her. She's a gem.

Anyway, enough of the tangents. My take on this? This guy is targeting HAMILTON for his lawsuit because it's a hit and he stands to get a lot of money. He doesn't seem to care about the other 20 or so shows without AD. Which is sad, because if it wasn't clearly a moneygrab, it could be a good thing to actually raise awareness about the general lack of accommodation for the visually impaired.



"

I agree 100%. Other shows might make changes after hearing about the lawsuit, and recognizing their own vulnerabilities. But, unfortunately, I doubt it.

The lovely usher mentioned in this thread is Beverly. She is by far my most favorite person to be working with in any job I've ever had and she is good people by far. The announcement verbatim, in case anyone was wondering is this:

"There are no restrooms on this floor, the closest one is 66 steps from that one, you have all been warned. Also, please put away your cell phones, you cannot use them. You can LOL but you cannot text your BFF. Otherwise, you'll have to deal with a VCWAA. A very cross woman with an attitude."

But, I digress. We (my fellow ushers and I) bend over backwards day in and day out trying to accommodate people disability related or otherwise. Just the other day, there were two parties of four, one party bought tickets at the box office for four seats in the center Mezz, the other bought the same seats off stub hub. For some reason both were scanned in but those who bought their tickets off stub hub were able to stay but had to sit off to the side, two on one side of the mezz two on the other. Granted, it could easily be argued that it was the fault of the theatre because the ticket scanner was clearly not working the way it should. But, we could have just offered a heartfelt apology and have them leave. This leaves me scratching my head. If he has been to several shows on Broadway, why is it all of a sudden he's complaining about this now and at Hamilton? Pretty sure the answer is obvious.

As a person with a disability, I regret that the impression that a lot of people have is that we are just going around frivolously suing. I'm in my late 30's, a lifelong paraplegic and wheelchair user, and I've never sued anyone, never threatened to sue anyone, and never encountered a lawyer who encouraged me to sue anyone. But that's not to say I don't run into accessibility barriers, so I do support the continued efforts to make the world as accessible as possible. I don't know what the motives are of the man in this situation, and for all I know they are in fact less than honorable. But I'm not so quick to assume that he's just trying to make a buck either. Unfortunately, as with any rights issue, sometimes the only way to create change is to raise hell and/or go through the legal process. It seems there needs to be clarification in the law on this issue, and this may be the way to get that done. That said, obviously there are proper channels to go through before dropping a lawsuit. I believe that was the issue in the story Anderson Cooper recently did which, by the way, did NOT go over well with the disability community because it was one-sided and did not explore the very real issue of ADA non-compliance that absolutely does exist.

Also, a non-disabled person not understanding the purpose for an accommodation doesn't mean that the accommodation isn't legitimately needed by the person requesting it. It's a matter of perspective. People experience life, including the arts, in different ways and still find enjoyment. For example, people ask what good is it to describe visuals to a blind person since they've never seen what's being described anyway. How do you know they've never seen those things? What if the person had sight earlier in life and later became blind? In that case, visual descriptions could be very useful. I frequently hear people question why certain places need to be wheelchair accessible because they assume someone in a wheelchair would never go to such a place. I often hear this about gyms and swimming pools because the assumption is physically disabled people are completely inactive, which is simply not true. I guess the question to think about is whether you, if you became disabled in some way, would be willing to just throw up your hands and concede that you would no longer get to enjoy the things you love, including the arts?

As for my personal feelings about Hamilton... I gave up trying to get an accessible seat a long time ago. Unfortunately I only make it to NY once a year or so, and I've never been able to find an accessible ticket for not only the times I have a trip planned, but any other dates I've randomly searched for just out of curiosity. So I've tried to not get too invested in anything Hamilton related because I'm afraid if I did I'd get my heart set on wanting to see it.

Yero my Hero said: "



Fun fact: If you need a disabled restroom at the Cort Theatre, they will direct you to the Chipotle across the street.
"



And there's steps to get in that Chipotle, so if you're in a wheelchair, you're SOL. Plus that Chipotle closes at 10PM. The other option (mentioned in the Access Info tab @ Telecharge) is the Renaissance Hotel, around the corner on 7th avenue.


The Shubert theater sends you to the second floor restroom at Sardis across the street, which isn't actually accessible from inside Sardis, but via the lobby elevator next door to Sardis.



At the Eugene O'Neill (which definitely had an accessible restroom inside the theater at one point, house left, front orchestra) , they send you to the 2nd floor of the Time Hotel next door.



At the Golden, they'll send you to the Jacobs next door, though the Access Tab at Telecharge says to go to the Schoenfeld.

Esther and Sugar78, speaking only for myself, I did not assume the plaintiff in question was merely courting cash. I don't know enough to have an opinion on that score.

And I'm certainly aware that not every blind person was blind from birth. I used the word "especially" to distinguish those who have been; I honestly don't understand how Audio Description would work in such cases. (How does it work? Is a tape played through headphones?)

But I was not complaining about the process. I don't care if my tax dollars are used for it (nor do I know if they are). In no case do I think the disabled "have it easy" or are getting some advantage over the rest of us.

And, frankly, I am shocked that theaters send disabled patrons "next door" to use the restroom! I assume from reading this thread that it has to do with the age of theater buildings and landmark status, but I'm still very surprised.

There are people (and attorneys) who make a good living scoping out possible ADA violations in various establishments. This practice undermines actual grievances under this law. As for being no such thing as racism against whites, that is baloney. I worked in a majority black workplace for quite a while, and I can assure you it does exist.

newintown said: "The problem with discussing racism is that people often choose differing ways to define the word.

The straightforward dictionary definition is "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior."

There are some who prefer to take a much harder ideological line and add this additional limitation: "... but only when used by the majority of a community, city, state, or nation against a minority."

And then there are some who would limit it still further: "... only applicable to white people, globally, whether they represent the majority or ruling class or not."

Until the people discussing the topic (or bitching each other out, as is more often the case) unite on a definition, any further exchange will be unfruitful.



"

Lung cancer matters, but let's not forget about breast cancer.