Taylor Swift Fan Details Her Fight for Wheelchair Access to Milan Concert: ‘They Don’t Want to Budge!’
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
In June, Silvia Stoyanova paid €300 ($320) for a front-of-stadium ticket to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
The 140,000 tickets for the July 13 and 14 Eras Tour dates at Milan’s San Siro stadium sold out within a couple of hours, but Stoyanova managed to secure one.
More from Variety
Taylor Swift Dominates Hot 100 With 'Is It Over Now?' at No. 1 and Seven More Songs in Top 10
'Dancing With the Stars' Sets Taylor Swift Night During Season 32
“Taylor hasn’t been to Italy for 13 years, the tickets are going to sell out fast,” she rightly thought. So she took the plunge and splurged.
Little did Stoyanova know that getting a ticket would only be the start of her fight to see her idol perform “Long Live,” the song that has now become her battlecry.
Stoyanova, who is 35, is disabled and has been in a wheelchair most of her life. The problem is that the front section of Milan’s San Siro stadium, where Stoyanova’s ticket is located, is not enabled for wheelchair access. Stoyanova only became aware of this post-purchase from the event’s organizers, who say they are just following the rules (see statements below).
So, in late July, Stoyanova launched a petition on Change.org to obtain more space for wheelchair access for the two Taylor Swift concerts on July 13 and 14. She also turned to Italy’s minister for disabilities, Alessandra Locatelli, and has gone as far as renting space on a billboard in Times Square to get her message to the U.S. about the fight for disabled people to access concerts.
Below, Stoyanova details her ongoing battle to see Taylor Swift perform.
Can you tell me the whole story from the beginning?
The first thing I would like to point out is that I have never been to a Taylor Swift concert, so it would be my first time. Another important thing I want to say is that my health conditions have gotten a lot worse in the past two years, and this has led to a depression that until last year had really taken away my will to live. It was Taylor who supported me with her music. For me, it was a something that kept me going. When I saw the announcement that her concert tour would be coming to Europe – and therefore also to Italy – for me it became like a goal, something to hang on to. Something to fight for. Now, of course, I feel the need to make my dream come true. I really care about these two things on a human level and I would like them to be mentioned because it’s not just a whim on my part.
How did you realize you were going to have issue with your tickets?
In June, I knew the tickets [for the July 13 and 14 Milan dates] would be sold by TicketOne because of rumors on the internet, so I kept my eyes peeled on their website. After a while, I saw a notice written in yellow that said disabled people should contact the concert management, but it didn’t mention who to call. Finally, after days of doing Google searches I managed to find out the name of the organizers [Mimmo D’Alessandro and Adolfo Galli]. I immediately called their main number. A young woman answered. I said, “Look, I’m in a wheelchair, I’m a disabled person. I’d like to reserve a ticket for one of the two Taylor Swift dates. What do I need to do?” She said, “Go back to our website, download the form and send it to us.” I said, “OK.” But I thought, “Taylor hasn’t been to Italy for 13 years, the tickets are going to sell out fast. So in the meanwhile, I’ll buy a ticket in a wheelchair accessible area.” Then ,after seeing what was available, I took a €300 ticket on the lawn toward the front, facing the stage. That’s an accessible area because there are no steps and the lawn gets covered with a layer of flooring.
Then what happened?
I get an email from the organizers saying that tickets for disabled people were sold out, but they would let me know if they decided to increase the number of tickets allocated for disabled people. But then I found out that these types of tickets had already been sold out when I had called. So they were just giving me the runaround. The organizers should have told me that, instead of telling me to fill out the form. Then I was told by the organisers that for “security reasons” I would not be able to use the ticket I had purchased.
So that’s when you decided to take legal action?
That’s when I posted a video on TikTok and launched a petition that was actually just a cry for help. I did some research and got even angrier when I realized that there are no clear laws assuring that disabled people get access to events like concerts. It made me really mad, because if up-to-date regulations were put in place, situations like mine wouldn’t exist. So let’s say my petition served the purpose of shaking things up.
Then you got a lawyer.
What happened is that this woman, who is a lawyer and also a big Taylor fan, contacted me saying that she too had also been in a wheelchair for a short period. Out of empathy, she wanted to support me and offered me her assistance pro bono. She sent the organizers questions on a bunch of legal points, including why they have placed a limit of just 110 tickets for disabled people when the San Siro stadium’s limit is known to be 200. We never got an answer.
So now you are hoping they increase the number of tickets for disabled people and you will get one, even if it’s not the front row seat that you purchased?
Here’s what I’m saying to the powers that be: “Since I have a ticket, please find me a spot where I can be with my mother who is my legal guardian.” I’m not insisting on being in the area where I bought the ticket. Tell me that I will get another spot and that’s fine with me. I just want to go to the concert. Obviously, as long as it’s a dignified seat from where a disabled person can see Taylor. I’m not banking on the fact that, “No, I have a €300 ticket and it has to be that seat!” Even though I had to pay that €300 in installments. It’s a sacrifice I made for a dream that’s important to me.
Your petition was noticed by Italy’s minister for disabilities. What has the minister done?
She said that going forward she will try to make Italian concert venues more accessible and ticketing more transparent. And the City of Milan has announced they are going to request more space for disabled people at the Taylor Swift concerts at San Siro Stadium. That request is being made directly by the person in charge of security, who in March will sign off on the whole plan for these concerts. But amid of all of this, what’s still hanging in the balance is the specific issue of my access to the concert. The organizers seem to be hellbent on denying me access. They don’t want to budge. They are saying that even if more space [for disabled people] is allocated, I will not get in because there are other disabled people ahead of me. They don’t want me to get in even if more space opens up when I’m the first one who started fighting for this space. So that seems spiteful.
What’s your next move?
With my lawyer and other Taylor fans who are helping me with this battle, we are trying to get our message out in the U.S. So we rented space on a billboard in Times Square for 24 hours. A designer made an image with a Taylor theme that represents me and my personal quest.
I am doing this because I know the artist [Taylor Swift] and I know her values and I am sure that if she knew that a disabled girl has a ticket and is being told “you’re not getting in,” she would find me a spot.
Here are excerpts from a statement to Variety from Mimmo D’Alessandro, CEO of Mimmo D’Alessandro and Adolfo Galli who are the promoters for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Italy.
“The layout of the event was decided months before the tickets were put on sale. The area for disabled people was set in an area that is not the front lawn and the amount of space [allocated for people with disabilities] was determined based on the space made available by the San Siro stadium in line with current security norms.
Just like many people who were not able to purchase tickets during the general sale, not all disabled people immediately received confirmation that their request would be accepted. The difference is that the so-called “waiting list” reserved for disabled people is constantly being updated, based on cancellations. So it is not to be assumed that requests [for a ticket for disabled people] that are currently on stand-by will not in the end be validated.”
Representatives for Swift did not immediately return Variety‘s request for comment.
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
