Originally Posted by
vicarious_MR'er
Finally -- and this is way off topic now -- but I thought the inability to reserve handicapped-access theater and event tickets online was actually a favor to the disabled people who need the seats, so it's interesting to hear the other viewpoint. If they were able to be purchased online, what's to prevent an able-bodied person like myself from buying all of them up for an otherwise sold-out event or in a case where the accessible seats are the best seats left for sale (e.g. ground level accessible vs. balcony non-accessible)?
All very good - the first couple of paragraphs are
exactly what has happened to me on more than one occasion. Thank you for giving this as much thought as you did.
Your last point is also good, but restricting the sale of wheelchair accessible theatre (or whatever) seats to phone sales doesn't prevent an able-bodied person from calling up and buying them, either. Theatres (movie & live) are different from planes in that the accessible seats are frequently very undesirable - if you look at the
orchestra seating map for the Buell (since I started with it) you'll see the accessible seats pretty much have abysmal sightlines compared to every other seat in the orchestra section (people who use wheelchairs don't want high-priced seats?).