Even if lucky enough to gain an employee's attention, the battle is far from over. Although tickets for the scattered seats are available for public purchase, ticket-booth employees most often are unfamiliar with their existence and treat anyone who asks about them with contempt. Too often, disabled fans, missing precious innings, must resort to buying general admission tickets and then having to exchange them for wheelchair seats at guest services inside. Over the years, the general attitude at Three Rivers Stadium has been one of derision and contempt for the disabled. In many conversations about this with individuals in Pirates management all they profess is futility in their ability to change the situation with the stadium management.
Disabled fans fare little better at other stadiums.
There is only one limited wheelchair seating area at Pitt Stadium and, although often extremely crowded, Pitt has chosen not to add additional seating. Down the hill at the Fitzgerald Fieldhouse, I have listened as ushers publicly berated disabled fans for sitting in the wrong place at Pitt basketball games. The wheelchair seating for basketball at the Fieldhouse is awful, stuck in a corner behind the Pitt Band. Even with new stadiums wonderfully designed for accessibility being built, there still must be a change in the way they will be managed. There must better job training of employees, teaching them sensitivity and the law.