Rolling Stone just published a feature where disabled fans say the live music industry still treats basic accommodations like a courtesy instead of a requirement — thirty-six years after the Americans with Disabilities Act became law. The headline quote is "we are not a pain in the ass," and it should sting a little, because it means fans are still having to make that argument in 2026.

This was never supposed to still be a fight

The ADA passed in 1990. Accessible ticketing, working viewing platforms, and staff who actually know the accommodations exist shouldn't be a rolling negotiation at every single venue, every single tour. Thirty-six years is long enough that "we're still figuring it out" stopped being a real excuse a long time ago.

Dance music doesn't get a pass here

It's easy to read a story like this and file it under "general live music problem" and move on. Don't. Festivals are exactly the environment where accessibility gets hardest and most important at once — temporary infrastructure, massive crowds, sightlines built around a stage, not a seating chart. If a scene built on the idea that everyone belongs on the floor can't get a disabled fan a working view of the stage, that's a credibility problem, not a logistics problem.

A dense crowd packed in front of a concert stage
A packed concert crowd — the exact environment where accessible sightlines and platforms matter most, and where they're most often missing. Photo: Sérgio Valle Duarte, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What "courtesy instead of requirement" actually looks like

  • Ticketing — accessible seating that's an afterthought add-on instead of built into the on-sale from the start.
  • Viewing platforms — present on paper, inconsistently staffed or positioned in practice.
  • Trained staff — the difference between an accommodation that works and one that exists only in a policy PDF.

The fix isn't a mystery

Nothing in this feature describes a hard technical problem — it describes a prioritization problem. Venues and promoters that treat accessibility as core infrastructure, budgeted and staffed the same as sound and lighting, don't generate these stories. The ones that treat it as a add-on do, every time. Thirty-six years in, disabled fans shouldn't still have to explain why they deserve to see the show too.

Feature image: UAME Music Saves Ukraine, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.