"40 year old female, won't get off the floor"
Doing the kind of work I do brings with it some fantastic opportunities. I work for a number of different companies doing various event work ranging from sports events to concerts and festivals. This weekend I was lucky enough to be able to work at the Red Hot Chilli Peppers concert in Knebworth. For most of the day I was working on the cycle response unit but occasionally I was required in 'the pit'. The pit is the area between the stage and the crowd. When crowd surfers or people who can't stand the crush get to the front they are escorted back into the crowd by security. The reason I was there was in case anyone came 'over the top' injured. I have done a lot of festivals and you would be amazing what medical problems come flying over the top into the waiting arms of security; unconscious people, seizures, open fractures, neck injuries, crush injuries and 6 year olds! Nothing surprises me anymore! Being up front for the headlining act is a sought after place and people literally wait there all day and night! Saturday was no different. As soon as the gates opened people ran to the front to wait! One of the eager few was a woman in a wheel chair.
She had arrived early, sat in the rain, queued like everyone else and had wheeled herself to the front and sat there all day. She was told as soon as she arrived at the front by security that she probably would not be allowed to stay there but she wouldn't move. The issues surrounding her being there are down to 'health and safety'. I can hear some of you groan already but in this instance I'm with the H & S bods (To a point!). A crowd, 80,000 strong, all crushing up to the barrier causes injury in itself. Stick a woman in an electric wheelchair in there and not only is there a danger to her but to others too. As the day went by the 'wheelchair in the pit' situation was monitored and despite every effort by security to get her to move to the disabled viewing platform she wouldn't. About an hour before the Chilli Peppers were due on stage the decision was made by the event organiser that for her own safety she had to be removed along with her very heavy chair. Against her will, she was lifted over the barrier, followed by her chair and moved out of sight of the crowd whilst a plan of where she could go was made. From here things took a turn for the worse. She refused to get back into her chair. Instead, she threw herself on the wet floor.
There she sat, refusing to be lifted, refusing to move and getting further soaked by the rain. She quoted legal legislation to prevent anyone from touching her and although, technically they could have moved her as she was causing an obstruction to an emergency route, they opted for diplomacy instead. This approach however was futile. She was livid that she had been moved and part of me understood why. That part was my heart understanding her frustration. My head however felt she shouldn't have put herself in that position and should have just gone to one of the three disabled viewing platforms. This was offered but she wasn't interested. Again, I get why, I can only imagine being on a platform would make her feel like a spectacle. She just wanted to be in the crowd, soak up the atmosphere like everyone else. After an hour she agreed to be taken into our field hospital to warm up. This happened just as the Chilli Peppers were starting. The event organisers offered for her to sit on her chair in 'the pit'. She would have had a perfectly good view, better than what she would have had stuck behind a barrier, but she wasn't interested. She turned down all viewing platforms and every offer that was put to her. Now, she was simply cutting of her nose to spite her face. Again, I get why! It had been a horrible, embarrassing experience and to be fair, I would probably have acted the same. She sat on the hospital bed for all of the concert and once it had finished refused to leave the hospital until she was given a refund for the entire concert. The problem was at 11pm on a Saturday night the security staff and the hospital have no power to issue a refund and the event organisers are busy! Sadly, she was taken away punching and screaming by police.
Should it have come to that? No. Could it have been avoided? I don't think so. I am all for disabled people doing everything they can to have a normal life; I have close friends in wheelchairs. Unfortunately, no matter how much will they have, there are some things people's injuries or illnesses will not permit them to do. That is life. No it's not fair but life isn't. A wheelchair has no place in a mosh pit. I'm sorry but it doesn't. Event organisers have to think about everyone there and to accommodate wheelchair users there are viewing platforms with an unrestricted view, toilets and clear pathways. The fact is, rules are rules, right or wrong. The argument over whether the organisers should or shouldn't allow wheelchairs in the crush is another debate. If a wheelchair user pays for a full price ticket then surely she has the right to go where she wants. Unfortunately, she can't, and was told so from the outset and as horrible as it was watching it unfold the ones taking the action did not make the rule. I felt guilty looking at her on the hospital bed, she looked like a drowned rat. I know being in a wheel chair was not her choice and she is trying to lead a normal life and do things that everyone else does, but in this instance I feel she was playing on her disability to make a point. She wasn't removed from the crowd out of spite or malice, it was done with her best interests in mind and I agree with that decision. Were they wrong? Were they mean? Should she have been allowed to stay? Please tell me because I am split on this one!