No Sitting Together at the Ballpark, Not for You Wheelchair Boy: The Great Companion Controversy of Anaheim and the ADA Resolution That Followed

The curse started for me over half a century ago when my dad took me to my first Angels game at the brand new Anaheim Stadium in 1965. That game impressed upon me so much that they became my team and I was an Angel fan for life.

Sure, they were the second tier team in town. Walter O'Malley had brought his Dodgers to Los Angeles a few years earlier from Brooklyn. They owned L.A., and still do to this day. Although I enjoyed seeing Dodger games in L.A., they always seemed a bit uptight to me and didn't quite click

It was the Angels with their underdog status and the team's laid back approach to pleasing their fans at the stadium that somehow wooed me. It sure wasn't their winning ways...the team was a perennial loser, no matter how much money the team's owner, singing cowboy Gene Autry, would throw at a superstar in the twilight of his career to come play here...but it was still a great place to go see some baseball and have a good time.

"Win one for the cowboy" would just be an empty phrase as long as he was alive. Sure, they came within striking distance, making the playoffs in 1979, 1982, and within one strike of going to the World Series in 1986 until closer Donnie Moore threw a beach ball to Dave Henderson who knocked it out of the park. 

After the Cowboy died and the Disney Corporation took over the team, they finally put it together to win their lone world championship in 2002.

My wife and son caught the dreaded Angel fan bug from me. We used to go to about a dozen Angel games a year. We had no problems with wheelchair and companion seating until Arizona billboard magnate Arte Moreno bought the team in 2003. After that, since they’d recently won a World Series and (in their words) tickets were at a premium, they enforced the companion seating policy as was written in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) at the time...at least one companion seat for each ticket sold upon request. They would not sell a third and I could not even get an extra ticket anywhere close.

I complained to the team and we had several long discussions with them about it and they wouldn’t budge but they were within the letter of the law so what could I do?

When the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) was asking for suggestions on how the ADA could be modified and refined in 2008, I sent them a letter about this...how could it be OK for an able bodied person to buy as many tickets as they want together but accessible seating was, in effect, limited to two tickets? Thus, my suggestion was heard and a new modification to the ADA went into effect...teams and other public performance venues now had to sell at least 3 companion tickets to each wheelchair ticket when requested. 

Once this was coded into the ADA and the date had passed so that it was in effect, I tried to buy a wheelchair ticket and two companion tickets to a game. I was told only one companion seat would be sold, just like before. It’d been years of wrangling with them. I was through, I turned it over to the DOJ.

You could imagine my surprise when they assigned it to an attorney that worked down the hall from me at my office where I worked at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. It caused a little consternation at first because I was a DOJ employee but I reminded them that I didn’t give up my rights when I came into work. 

They agreed and did a ‘soft’ litigation...basically informing the Angels of the law. The Angels said a mistake was made when I tried to buy tickets and that they were in full compliance. The attorney asked if I could go to a game and report back to him what happened.

(At this same time, the Angels had just settled a full blown lawsuit that a fan filed for the same reason because they only built in one companion space for the only two wheelchair seats that they had in the club level, a popular premium level for fans)

I went to buy tickets as was told that in the section we wanted to sit in (left field, cheap seats), that we were required to buy their “all you can eat” package. I argued but that’s all they would sell me. We went. There was a snack bar ten feet behind our seats. I went. Was told the “all you can eat” snack bar was in another location on the top deck of the stadium...three levels above us.

Back at work, I informed the attorney. He unleashed some hell on the team and also found out that in the section we were in, only the wheelchair row was required to buy the food package.

That was the last time we went to a game there, four years ago. The DOJ got the Angels to stop the food package practice and all compliance had been adhered to...so they told me.

Today will be our first time back. We’ll see how it goes. We'll let you know in this week's Fields of Dreams post on Wednesday.

On a side note, the team fired their VP in charge of ticket policy and sales. They also fired their attorney who, as was unofficially told to me by very informed sources, cost the team over $4 million in fighting these various actions. I’m told he now is the team attorney for the Jacksonville Jaguars football team.

Always try to work it out ahead of time but if it comes down to it, here's a link that tells you how to file an ADA complaint.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

Travel Fatigue

When you travel a lot like us, at some point you will get it...travel fatigue. Travel is supposed to be fun, fulfilling, educational, eye opening, rejuvenating but sometimes you get to the point where it is almost more work and frustration than fun.

That's the point where I was at recently when I ticked off in my mind all the things that tick me off about travel...

The desk clerk that doubles as the restaurant's chef, has to consult a 'how to' guide to make our meal, take an hour to do it, and still get it wrong.

The many, many times we've had a guaranteed accessible room only to arrive and find there's none available.

The time I had a car rental reservation, started to take an Uber there, only to get a call saying they had no more cars (and pissing off the Uber driver mightily when I cancelled the ride).

The Uber driver who ran a red light and almost got us t-boned.

Airlines that assign us seats way in the back of the plane where Tim has to get bumped and banged up as they drag him on that aisle chair to the back.

Aisle chairs that are not maintained.

Airport ground crew that don't know how to use the aisle chair.

Other passengers cutting in front of you in line when you're trying to get a gate check tag for your chair.

Passengers that show up 10 seconds before they're going to close the plane's door.

When TSA agents try to ignore you because they know they're going to have to take extra time to search you while the rest of your party has already cleared the checkpoint 15 minutes ago.

Non-revenue passengers (i.e., crew members on their vacation) getting to sit in first class while the paying passengers that could be upgraded are crammed into steerage.

When even the Motel 6 is approaching $200 per night.

When you return to your room at 5pm and notice housekeeping hasn't even glanced in its direction.

Ticket sellers that don't tell you about discounts.

Ticket sellers that don't tell you that personal assistants aren't charged for admission.

Accessible seating at events where your view is blocked by columns, overhangs, or other architectural impediments.

Accessible seating at events where you're stuck sitting behind a hundred standing fans.

Rental companies that don't have to provide wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Those few rental companies that do charging about 5 times as much because it's accessible (and no unlimited mileage).

Excursions that charge extra for wheelchair users (a problem in other countries).

Paratransit that is almost impossible to use when normal transit is not accessible.

Hotels thinking that a double bed is big enough for two people.

Hotels where their accessible rooms will only hold two people and you have three.

Missing the time when a hundred dollars a night would net you a pretty sweet room.

Being told something is accessible then "you only have to go up a few stairs."

Hearing "you wheelchair users don't have anymore problems now that the ADA has passed."

Having to hunt down the hotel maintenance person because they remove the power from the hotel's pool lift.

Pets masquerading as service animals.

Parents pretending their little darlings are not misbehaving.

Resorts with a thousand guests and 200 pool or beach chairs.

Getting to a street corner where one side has a ramp and the other side doesn't.

Stadium style seating in theaters.

People looking at you funny because you're filling up two plates at the buffet and you have to explain you're getting a meal for another person that can't do it themselves.

Hotels where the accessible room is in the back, has no view, and is the worst maintained room on the property.

Train platforms that don't match the level of the train doors.

Bus drivers that refuse to operate the perfectly operating wheelchair lift on their bus

Servers in restaurants simply ignoring you.

Having the handicapped parking blocked by non-handicapped drivers.

Having the handicapped parking blocked by the business itself when they are having an outdoor function.

Having the handicapped parking blocked by the armored truck making a pickup.

Loud air conditioners in hotel rooms.

Loud guests in hotel rooms.

Airlines that try to split up your group even when you explain to them that you have a disabled passenger and he needs to have an attendant by his side the entire flight.

Ground crews that don't show up when it's time to board you on the aisle chair.

Paying extra to upgrade to a 'suite' when you find out that the only thing that makes the room a suite is the 3 foot high wall between the bed and the couch.

Large, single rooms being called suites.

Being told just because something's old, like a building with three steps or a train, it can't be made accessible even when you've been to another attraction exactly like it that has been made accessible with a ramp or lift.

Paying full price to go into an amusement park only to find that you can't get on any of the rides there.

Did I miss any?  Now that I've got that off my chest, it's time to plan another trip.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved