Marvel Stadium has committed to building a second sensory room and retraining its staff on accessibility protocols, after Heartbreak High star Chloe Hayden publicly accused the venue of ableism at Harry Styles’ first Melbourne show last Friday night.
The actor, who is autistic and an advocate for disability rights, met with the stadium’s chief executive officer Michael Green on Monday to discuss her negative experience, as well as concerns from other patrons about accessibility and staff sensitivity.
Announcing the venue’s proposed changes to her followers on social media on Tuesday, Hayden said the past few days had taken an immense toll on her, but she will “never stop fighting”.
“Don’t you ever say that raising your voice is futile,” she wrote. “Change happens by being loud.”
She also shared a callout, on behalf of herself and Marvel Stadium, for people with stories of poor disability access and discrimination to reach out to the venue directly, so they can “gain knowledge to educate and change for a better future”.
Hayden is one of several concertgoers who reported being dismissed by staff and prevented from accessing the stadium’s sensory room – a quiet and secure space for people with sensitivity to over stimulation and noise – during last Friday’s show.
“[The worker] looked over me and did a once-over, checked me out, and she told me, ‘oh, it’s not available’,” Hayden said. “They definitely made out that I wasn’t welcome in that space.”
She then shared stories other people had told her of staff allegedly asking to see “diagnosis forms” to access materials that help with sensory overload – such as noise-cancelling headphones and fidget tools – and telling someone they weren’t having a “real panic attack”.
As Professor Julian Trollor, the chair of Intellectual Disability Mental Health at UNSW, said in a recent interview, this kind of dismissal can lead to “considerable stress” as autism is most often an invisible disorder that people can become accustomed to “masking”, and not everyone has a formal diagnosis.
“We are extremely disappointed to hear of the experience some patrons had at Marvel Stadium over the weekend when they were unable to access our sensory room which was at capacity on both nights,” a spokesperson for the stadium said on Tuesday.
According to the venue’s website, the sensory room has a maximum capacity of 12 people at any given time. However, that figure can slightly increase or decrease from night to night depending on the needs of the people in the room at the time.
“After conversations … with patrons affected, Marvel Stadium has told patrons that to cope with increased demand a new extra sensory room will be included in the Marvel Stadium redevelopment when it is completed this year.
“Marvel Stadium was the first stadium in Melbourne to open a sensory room and takes great pride in welcoming everyone to the venue for events, with our sensory room being a safe and welcoming space for the many people who have used it since it was first introduced in 2019 including the many people that accessed it over the weekend during both concerts.
“While we sometimes experience capacity issues at major events, we still aim to provide a positive and caring experience for all patrons needing to find a quiet place and we sincerely apologise to patrons for the hurt and inconvenience that was caused over the weekend.”
The new room will be of a similar size to the current space, but on a different level and on the opposite side of the stadium to help patrons in other areas gain access.
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