Father calls for awareness day

The father of a 12-year-old autistic boy forced to leave a London theatre after his family were told he was “too noisy” has called for a day of awareness on the issue of learning disabilities.

Gregor Morris of Milton Brodie was enjoying the musical ‘Wicked’ with his family at the Apollo Theatre when his father, Glyn, was approached by front-of-house staff who told him Gregor was making too much noise and asked him to either sit behind a glass partition he could not see over or leave the theatre.

Other members of the audience were shocked at this and since the event more than 4,000 people have registered their disapproval via a Facebook page.

On Monday Mr Morris held talks with the theatre’s owners, the Ambassador Theatre Group, with the aim of holding a national event working with charities for people with learning disabilities to promote better understanding of their conditions.

“Basically what we’re looking at is a national awareness day,” said Mr Morris (41). “We want to gather maximum attention to it.”

The play ‘Wicked’ tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and how she spent her life being victimised and bullied, which struck Mr Morris as ironic when his son was asked to leave the theatre.

Gregor has Neuronal Migration Disorder, which is on the autistic spectrum, suffers from epilepsy, struggles with his balance and can only communicate using vowels.

He has previously gone to theatre shows in Edinburgh and on Broadway in New York.

“We are very lucky with Gregor,” Mr Morris said. “We don’t have any behavioural issues, he is just a happy boy.”

As well as his dad, Gregor was watching the play with his mother Jennifer (38) and sister Emily (9).

Mr Morris believes the only noise his son, who is due to attend Forres Academy from this year, was making were his laughs which he described as “in context”.

When the staff approached him he asked if any members of the audience had complained and was told that was not the case and the complaint came from “our precious sound engineer”.

Several members of the audience were shocked at the staff’s behaviour, which Mr Morris appreciated.

Upon the family’s return to Moray they set up a page on the Facebook social network called ‘Wicked Discrimination’ which has attracted more than 4,000 ‘likes’ and hundreds of comments. He has also been inundated with e-mails and letters.

Many have spoken about similar experiences and a feeling that there is a lack of awareness among many people regarding conditions such as autism.

The theatre’s owners have apologised to Mr Morris for what happened and told the ‘Gazette’ they are examining his idea and will be back in touch with him later this week.

For more information on the issue see search for ‘Wicked Discrimination’ at www.facebook.com.

• This story appeared in the print edition of the 'Gazette'. After we went to press we received the following response from the theatre owners, reproduced here in full.

"We deeply regret any upset caused to the Morris family and would like to apologise for their bad experience last month at the Apollo Victoria in London.

"We are grateful to them for highlighting an issue that goes to the very heart of our company’s mission to provide an excellent experience for all our patrons. We firmly believe that everyone has the right to access live theatre, regardless of ability or disability, and we especially welcome children and young people.

"However, we must clarify two points of fact which have been overlooked in much of the coverage of this story.

• The sound engineer did not complain about Gregor Morris, but merely alerted venue staff that there was a disturbance in the auditorium as she was concerned that someone was ill.
• At no time were the Morris Family asked to leave the theatre. Mr Morris and his son left of their own accord, leaving his wife and daughter to watch the rest of the performance.

"ATG firmly believes that no patron should ever be asked to leave one of its theatres as a direct consequence of their disability. In this instance, whilst the staff concerned did not actually ask the family to leave, the way in which the situation was handled clearly resulted in the family feeling that they had no option. This is wholly unacceptable and we have apologised unreservedly for the distress caused to the Morris family."