An Australian heavy metal fan with a disability felt humiliated after being turned away from a concert of his favourite band because he uses a wheelchair.
Dylan Taylor went to the Pier Bandroom in the Melbourne suburb of Frankston on July 28 to see Sydney band Polaris perform, but to his dismay, he was refused entry.
His concert ticket, the venue’s website or social media did not state that people in wheelchairs were not allowed in.
But after 32-year-old Mr Taylor and several friends traveled for more than an hour to reach the location, he quickly realised something was wrong.
“I got to the front of the line and they checked my ID like usual, and one of the bouncers wouldn’t even acknowledge I was there,” he said. 7News.
He held up his driver’s license, but the security personnel ignored it.
Mr Taylor didn’t understand what was happening until another doorman said to him: ‘No, sorry mate, no wheelchairs’. He called it ‘pure discrimination’.
The group asked if a manager could come and talk to them and see if they could find a solution to let them all in.
Disabled Australian heavy metal fan Dylan Taylor (pictured at a Polaris concert in San Diego) was humiliated after being turned away from a concert because he uses a wheelchair
Ultimately, the manager allegedly told the group that it would pose a fire safety risk to let Mr Taylor in and that the bouncers would not carry wheelchair users out if a fire broke out.
“I’m spitting because at this point I haven’t even paid for my friends’ tickets and ruined their night out,” he said.
When his friends told him that they had seen someone in a wheelchair at the same location two weeks earlier, they were told that the person could walk quite a distance and did not always need a wheelchair.
A spokesman for the Pier Bandroom’s owner, Endeavour Group, said the venue regretted any inconvenience caused.
They said the Pier Hotel was built in the 1800s and the Bandroom location “is only accessible via stairs and is not wheelchair accessible.”
‘We apologize to all ticket buyers who were not provided with sufficient information about our venue’s policies when purchasing their tickets for recent concerts.’
They added that the Pier Bandroom website will be updated to make rules surrounding wheelchair access clearer.
The tickets were reportedly later refunded.
Ironically, Taylor had seen Polaris perform when he was still living in San Diego, California, and even got to throw the band in the air while crowd surfing in his wheelchair.
“You could just count on your wheelchair fitting in there,” he said.
It was in San Diego 18 months ago that he suffered a permanent spinal injury while riding his BMX bike.
Mr Taylor said what happened to him in Frankston was “the first time I’ve experienced, I would say, quite gross discrimination”.
‘You feel quite empty inside, and I even cried for a while in the car on the way home’.
Mr Taylor said the experience left him very upset as he realised what people who have lived with a disability all their lives go through.
“(People) who may not have experienced the other half of their lives that I experienced were able to experience these things before they ended up in a wheelchair,” he said.
There was nothing on his concert ticket, nor on the venue’s website or on social media, indicating that people in wheelchairs were not allowed in. The Pier Bandroom is pictured
Ironically, Mr. Taylor had seen Polaris (pictured) play when he lived in San Diego, California and even got to lend the band a hand while crowd surfing in his wheelchair.
Mr Taylor said the past 18 months had been “a steep learning curve” as he discovered how much of his life was now hampered by his lack of access to a wheelchair.
“Melbourne will accept the reputation of being inclusive and accepting, but the city is not necessarily accessible,” he said.
A new National Arts and Disability Associated Plan, receiving $7.9 million in federal funding, aims to help people with disabilities access and participate in the arts.
Daily Mail Australia has reached out to both Pier Bandroom and Polaris for comment.