Witnessing a Miracle on America’s Got Talent

About four years ago, I received an email offer from Lakefront Arena for free tickets to a taping of America’s Got Talent while it was auditioning in New Orleans. The taping was on a Tuesday afternoon, so I thought it would be a nice change of pace during the work week for my assistant and I to attend. I applied for the tickets and got a couple for the noon show.

When we got to the arena, I was impressed that we got decent parking and were let in first because of my wheelchair. While in line with the other wheelchair users, there was a lady in a regular “push” wheelchair and her friend in line behind my assistant. We figured that the lady had not been in her chair long because she kept running into/over my assistant’s heels while we were waiting. Very frustrating and painful.

Once we were allowed in, we had to go exchange our tickets for handicapped accessible ones. The TV show would not allow any wheelchairs down on the floor, so we were directed to the top of the first tier. It was very difficult to hear the judges and the contestants due to the crappy sound system. But, we could basically see, and the tickets were free, so I wasn’t really complaining.

As we sat down, the same lady that was behind us in line took the seat next to us with her friend. About fifteen minutes later, the America’s Got Talent people made an announcement that they needed to fill the remaining floor seats, and whoever wanted to come down would get seated down there on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Ready for the miracle?

The same lady who rolled over my assistant’s feet proceeded to get UP out of her wheelchair, walk it to the nearest stairwell, leave it there, and WALK briskly down the stairs to the floor where she was given a better seat.

HELLO??!!! Does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?

All I can say is that lady is very lucky that she did not come back by my seat because I would not have been able to keep my mouth shut. At the rate she hurried down the stairs, it was obvious that she was very temporarily “wheelchair bound.” She must have wanted the good parking spots, the ability to get in the arena first, and what she thought would be a good seat. This type of thing bothers me the same way healthy people “borrow” their grandma’s handicap parking tag so that it is more convenient for them to park at the mall or movie theater.

To people like Miracle Woman: I hope that one day you know what it’s like to really be stuck in a wheelchair and not have the choice to stand up and walk down a flight of stairs. I hope that one day you need that wheelchair accessible seat or that handicap tag. But most of all, I hope one day you realize the value of your ability to walk and provide for yourself. You have no idea how lucky you are.

*On a side note, the show was interesting, but the taping went very slowly. It was cool, however, to see the judges and Nick Cannon do their thing while the camera guys and the crew did theirs. Not something I’d want to do again, but kind of a neat experience, minus Miracle Woman.