But until fundamental attitudes about disabilities and accessibility change here, old prejudices will still linger and true equality will have to wait. In fact, suggesting that conditions are acceptable offers a free pass to stadium administrators, enabling them to continue their humiliating treatment of people with disabilities. A lifelong, diehard Pittsburgh sports fan, I have been attending sporting events in this city for as long as I can remember, often sitting in the handicapped seating areas. I still come home regularly, frequently returning to these familiar seats. I have seen precious game time wasted, days destroyed and even birthdays ruined at the hands of local stadium authorities.
Every game is an adventure and a potential ordeal.
For a Pirates fan in a wheelchair, coming to Three Rivers Stadium is only slightly easier than hitting a Randy Johnson fastball. A wheelchair will not fit through most of the metal railings leading to the ticket booths. The few recently constructed accessible ticket windows the stadium does have are often not manned, and even when manned, individuals in wheelchairs cannot be heard due to the placement of the windows and speakers. I have seen fans reduced to pounding to no avail on the back doors of the ticket booths or having to ask someone else to purchase their tickets, indignities few us of would suffer. Even if lucky enough to gain an employee's attention, the battle is far from over.