“I have a ticket to a Taylor Swift concert, but I can’t go because I’m in a wheelchair. We need more places for the disabled.” A fan starts a petition

First, he sent a questionnaire in which, explaining his disability, he asked for permission, according to practice, to take part in the concert of his favorite singer. Then, while waiting for an answer, in order not to lose the opportunity to participate in the event, I bought a VIP ticket worth 300 euros. Sylvia’s desire to participate in the concert Taylor Swifthowever, it will not be implemented to date. Cause? “I return to the people who were excluded from the event and I was told that if I am in a wheelchair, I cannot participate, even if I have a VIP ticket on the lawn in front of the stage.” For this reason, Silvia Stoyanova, 35, has launched a Change.org petition that has already garnered more than 30,000 signatures, outlining her case and asking that the right of people with disabilities to attend Taylor Swift’s concert in July be respected. 2024 at the San Siro in Milan.

“My name is Sylvia, I am 35 years old, I live in Milan, I am a girl in a wheelchair and I am a big fan of Taylor Swift,” the woman begins in a video message in which she invites people to sign her petition, in which she asks the organizers, D’Alessandro and Gallo

make this concert and other future concerts accessible to as many people with disabilities as possible by installing a second additional platform for people with disabilities, or at least “so that access is not denied to those with a regular ticket”.

In the petition, the 35-year-old also asks for “more transparency” about the number of available seats reserved for disabled people and that disabled people “are not treated like second-class citizens,” given that “we were told we could be rescued.” , if one day a place becomes vacant.

In the text, Silvia Soyanova also tells how it all happened. “Like all people with disabilities in Italy, I had to fill out a form that could be downloaded from the website of the Italian organizers of the event, attach disability documents and send them by e-mail,” the petition reads. “They explained to me over the phone that they would take the trouble to ‘take care’ of us disabled people as soon as the tickets on sale on Ticketone ran out (we are talking about tickets reserved for those who do not have mobility problems, as if we were disabled people belonged to the series B category, and for the umpteenth time we do not have the same rights and priorities as those who walk). While waiting for them to contact me, I moved myself and bought myself a VIP ticket in front of the stage, on the lawn (though I spent a whopping 300 euros, but at least I was sure it was a wheelchair accessible place) . square, since there are no steps in it),” the author of the campaign continues. “After the sales were closed, the agency actually started taking care of us too, sending out emails left and right in which it decided who was allowed in and who was not. The criteria by which these decisions were made was never disclosed or written in black and white on the organizers’ website. Unfortunately, as a private event, this agency is free to dispose of things as it sees fit,” continues the promoter, who finally explains that she was “excluded” from the event. “So I called the agency and told them that I bought myself a VIP ticket

lawn in front of the stage (a wheelchair accessible area) and their response was “in any case, sitting in a wheelchair, you cannot participate even if you have this ticket”, suggesting that if I could get up and there would be no problem going through,” says Sylvia, specifying that she was asked “not to contact them further” because “they will be the ones who will contact us again if someone decides not to participate in the event anymore, or if places for disabled people were to be increased.” According to the author of the petition,until 2000, seats reserved for the disabled were in the front row, right “in front of the stage”, then gradually “they began to be placed further and further away.”

Contacted Corriere della Sera, the organizers made it clear that “there has never really been a period where the disabled were located in front of the stage” and that, in particular, “the disabled seats in the orange sector will be used for Taylor Swift. shows available at the San Siro Stadium for each concert” and “no more can be added.” On the merits of the petition, the organizers add: “Registration for the area for the disabled closed on June 23, and Silvia Stoyanova’s application came to us on July 8, when the places were already sold out.”