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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Disney World with Cerebral Palsy

SO - the day is coming.

We are taking our daughter to DISNEY WORLD!!  I am SO excited - they say it's the happiest place on earth and honestly... theme parks have become sort of my therapy over the years... a place I can go to forget all about any problems or cares in the world... where one can eat funnel cake and ice cream with a blatant disregard for all things healthy.  It's awesome.

So I'm going to wager a guess that going to Disney with children is a challenge at the best of times but going in a wheelchair is even more so.  I've been reading disability boards and forum posts to try to glean the absolute most out of the trip while making it as comfortable for my daughter specifically as possible.

I promise to report back on my finds but here is what I am planning to do:


  • We will take a double stroller to the park instead of the wheelchair so her baby brother will be able to have his own seat (and we only have to manage pushing one thing) 
  • We will go the day ahead to get a Disney GAC (guest assistance card) to help us use alternate entrances for rides and to use the stroller as a wheelchair.  I've read mixed reviews on this and it is up to the guest services person to decide what type of card you get.  You can get a "stroller as a wheelchair" stamp which allows you to take your stroller IN line (rather than leave it behind) or you can get one with double arrows on it which is the alternate exit card.  I believe there are other card types relating to autism, inability to be in a crowd, etc.
  • I'm hoping to get parking close to the park.. I'm not sure how this will work but I know that having to get on a tram to the park will NOT work so here's hoping (fingers crossed)

They have PDFs specific to each park - a nice guide detailing each ride's accessibility features.

Disability Guides for:



Saturday, November 6, 2010

Halloween Trick or Treating in a Wheelchair

So every year Halloween is a day when everyone can dress and act a little wacky and get away with it.  This year was the first Halloween at the new house, so you never know what to expect in terms of trick-or-treaters.. etc.  We only got about 10 or so kids.. but then I realized that my pumpkin's light went out so I'm not sure how much of the decreased traffic was associated with that.  Plus, in Ottawa, it was pretty darn cold that night so I can understand why kids wouldn't want to stay outdoors very long.

Anyway - I sent T to school in a rock star costume from High School Musical.. she looked pretty darn cute... she came home with some photos (in her school binder) of the rest of her class.  T's classmates have a variety of physical disabilities so it was cool to see how each parent tackled the challenge of costuming a child in a wheelchair for example.  A particularly neat idea was her classmate Henry's costume where he was a drummer in a rock band.  They had outfitted his wheelchair with faux-drums and dressed him up like a rocker.  It was really cute and a very creative use of the chair as an accessory to the costume.. kuddos.

Anyway - I'm not sure how many people are reading this BUT I have a question to pose.. has anyone given much thought to how to effectively trick-or-treat in a wheelchair?  We did only four houses this year so it wasn't a major problem that the houses were all inaccessible (we just picked T up and carried her) but it got me thinking that a)that isn't going to be a feasible option as she gets older/bigger and b)how in the heck do other families handle this?  I just remember Halloween having such awesome memories for me as a kid and I want my children to experience the same feelings I did... I'm just not sure how I can "adapt" this activity to make it fun for my daughter in years to come as well...

Ideas?