by Margie
The disablility should have priority over us "walking people." While at the show , I noticed staff of the theatre placing disabled fans, NOT in the front rows, but in the back. I found that rather strange. Usually at venues such as this, the disabled are usually placed inside the perimeter of the media pits. There was plenty of room for a few chairs on the right of the pit. The left was pretty full. But in this case, the theatre couldn't place the 6 disabled fans in the pits, there was no way to get them in there, unless it was done manually. And that night it was already crazy as is.
Remember how Michael went on stage, and most of us stood on our chairs, snapped pictures, and became all excited and blocked their view. We didn't mean to, but we did. And it blocked the view of many of the disabled fans from viewing Michael. Yet they didn't complain.
Wheelchairs were also somewhat blocked in by "the walking" as well. One couple I told them to hang in there and just wait till the crowd disperses a bit and then move on out. It was no use trying to force anyone out of the way. It was just crazy. I suppose many fans were trying to reach Michael at the back of theatre.
And lastly, a fan lost her precious autographed picture of Michael, while trying to get up out of her wheel chair to buy a T-shirt. She laid the photo in the chair and when she turned around it was gone. She was crying uncontrollably, according to one male volunteer. He comforted her as much as possible, but it didn't replace the missing photo.
The Orpheum is old, and yes, they've gone through some major changes, and it's beautiful, but they forgot one thing, accommodations for those who are disabled. Facilities are often sometimes forgotten and hopefully in the future, after seeing what happen here, that this will be taken care of for future shows held there.
