Open letter to Disney regarding the new proposed Disabled Assistance System (DAS)

Dear Disney Executives,

I am writing in regard to the proposed and soon to be implemented changes to the Guest Assistance Card (GAC) program to the new Disabled Assistance System (DAS).  As a loyal Disney park customer since 1983 and the mother of a special needs child, I am deeply concerned and disheartened at the proposed changes to the system.

I understand the impetus for the new system is that there has been anecdotal evidence of abuse of the existing system.  I will attempt to suggest some recommendations to circumvent these abuses rather than the proposed system which seeks to decrease abuse by making the system less appealing.

While I am encouraged that you have consulted with special needs advocacy groups such as Autism Speaks, I worry that such limited consultation cannot possibly encompass the needs of your customers at large.  If there had been public consultation, I believe you would have been pleasantly surprised at the suggestions put forth by your customer base.  I am very aware that each individual case is different - which is why the existing GAC system was in place.  A guest relations cast member would evaluate each individual case and attempt to accommodate the needs of that individual family within the framework of the GAC system.

Suzi Brown is quoted as saying "we are changing our process to create a more consistent experience for all our guests while providing accommodations for guests with disabilities,"  My issue with this statement is that by the very fact of making things "consistent", Disney has lost sight of what it means to have special needs.  Special needs by their very definition are not consistent, and not all guests with disabilities will be appropriately accommodated using the new DAS.

For myself, my seven-year-old daughter has cerebral palsy (spastic triplegia) and uses a power wheelchair as her long-distance mode of travel and must be lifted/carried for transfers.  When visiting Disney parks, we have opted to use a double stroller to help with the logistics (she now has two younger siblings).  We have had excellent experiences at Walt Disney World parks and all cast members were extremely friendly, helpful and honestly made the experience "magical" for my child.  We have never abused the system nor have we used the card to gain access to a ride multiple times in a row.  We are planning on visiting again this December but the current changes make me nervous to attempt the visit.  I cannot speak to visiting with an autistic child (nor will I attempt to) but the comorbidities associated my own child's cerebral palsy also mean she has sensory issues.  As we will most likely be unable to spend many hours in the parks, the proposed waiting system makes it unlikely she will experience much, not to mention that she may still baulk when attempting a ride after the waiting time has elapsed.  So imagine coming back after an hour wait (albeit not in line thankfully) only to have the child unable/unwilling to attempt the ride.

Something that has not been mentioned in other articles I have read is that some alternate entrances (particularly at Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion to name a few) may prevent the guest in a wheelchair from having the complete or "consistent" experience.  These guests are taken to alternate loading docks without theming and miss some key elements of the ride provided to those queuing in stand-by lines.

Claims of abuse of the current system include:

• Non-disabled guests hiring disabled tour guides to gain quicker access to rides
• Guests renting a wheelchair when it is not medically necessary and taking turns using the wheelchair throughout the day
• Guests selling/giving Guest Assistance Cards to non-disabled guests
• Guests pretending to have disabilities to obtain a Guest Assistance Card

My suggestions:

• In conjunction with the DAS, continue to use the GAC on a limited basis for those individuals who cannot be accommodated using the new system.  This would be easily implemented as all guests using the DAS will have to visit Guest Relations anyway.
• Add a photo requirement to the limited GAC to prevent individuals from "swapping disabilities" between party members and/or riding without the disabled guest.
• With the DAS, increase the number of concurrent ride wait times to 2 or 3 attractions at once to distribute the risk of not riding one or many of the selected attractions
• Offer a discounted ticket price for guests with disabilities and an attendant.  Suzi Brown states that the new system is "in line with the rest of our industry."  so why would you not implement the accompanying discounts available at Anheuser-Busch and Universal parks? 
• Outsource Guest Relations activities related to disabilities to a third party organization.  This would allow the pre-registration of guests with disabilities who would then arrive at the Disney parks with their pre-arranged accommodations (all which have been vetted by Disney in advance)

I will reserve further judgement on the new system until it is officially rolled out and the appropriate official information is released, however, I urge you to be very forthcoming with specific information and FAQs as this will help alleviate the concerns of your guests.

Ultimately, I still remain confident that you will tweak the system so as to continue to accommodate guests with disabilities while decreasing the incidence of abuse.

Sincerely,

Sarah M.

Mandatory Automatic Doors for Wheelchair Access

Okay - so I'll do another post on our "accessible" trip to Disney World (VERY pleasant experience) since it deserves a post on its own.. but I would like to vent about something else entirely.. automatic doors.

I live in Ontario Canada where, as of 2005, all businesses must (by law) provide accessible (aka wheelchair) access to their businesses.  All buildings, public and private, who serve the public need to have ramps, wider doors, push button mechanisms to open doors, etc.   (I'm over-simplifying but you get the idea)

http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/documents/en/mcss/publications/accessibility/AboutAODAWeb20080311EN.pdf

I find having accessible buildings to be a blessing in many ways for many different types of people.  For example, when I have the kids in a stroller, it is awesome to not have to have someone hold open the door for you or try to struggle through by yourself.  Which brings me to the reason for my rant...

THERE ARE NO ACCESSIBLE BUILDINGS IN ORLANDO.

Okay, well that's not entirely true because places like Walgreens/Publix, etc.  have automatic sliding doors but the majority of places I went to on this trip, I had to struggle to get to the buildings, open the doors, try to make sure the wheels didn't hit the door frames.. ARGH.  It was awful.. I'm not sure how anyone in a wheelchair gets around in Orlando?  Do they just avoid going to small stores?  It is assumed that people in wheelchairs travel with an "attendant"?  What gives?  ARGH.

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)

General information from Disney World http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guests-with-disabilities/ or specifically mobility issues http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guests-with-disabilities/mobility/

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

Disability Guides for:

• Magic Kingdom
• Epcot
• Hollywood Studios
• Animal Kingdom

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?

Barrier Free

So today I was in the middle of vacuuming my floors and had to do something with the baby so I just dropped the vacuum on the floor... thinking I would get to it later.. no big deal, right?  Anyway, so I made lunch for the kids, put everything on the table, and called everyone to eat.

Simple, right?

Wrong.

"Um.. mom, I can't get to the table"

I look down and my daughter (who is knee walking) is looking up at me after trying to figure out how to go around the vacuum cleaner on the floor.  I apologized profusely and quickly moved the vacuum to a more unobtrusive location.

Things like this happen sometimes but I'm usually very good about keeping things off the floor - organizing shoes so they aren't in the hallways - you know - normal household cleaning stuff.  The only difference in my house, though, is that if I don't clean up or tidy messes all day long, my daughter suffers and isn't able to access parts of her own home.

That reminds me of why we bought the house we did.. we just moved a year ago but it was a while looking before we actually found something appropriate.  We looked at tons of beautiful houses in beautiful neighbourhoods - some of which we would've otherwise purchased - except that we were looking for a barrier free property that allowed easy access throughout the home (in our case wheelchair access).

Here is what wikipedia tells us about barrier-free http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier-free

Think about every house you've lived in and tell me if you think it's barrier free.. or even CLOSE to being barrier free.  How wide were the doorways? 30 inches?  Let's see (calculating standard width of a wheelchair = 25-27 inches plus oh let's say 3 inches per hand if you're holding ONTO the wheels to move it = 6 inches) so if 30 inches is a standard door width and a person in a wheelchair needs 31-33 inches - looks like they're not getting through there doesn't it?  Also - look down at the thresholds of your doorways or where different flooring types meet.  Is there a big bump/step up/threshold piece?  Hmm.. another FAIL.  Take note of the bottom of rounded stairs, do they jut out into the hallway?  Is the hallway wide enough?  Do you have major sets of stairs to even enter the home?  Is there a main floor washroom?  Bedroom?  Things I never even would've considered as factors in buying a home before are now front and center.

Anyway - that's it for me today - peace love.

How do you teach your child to talk?

So - growing up, I never heard anything about teaching your children how to talk.. it seemed like it "just happened" for normal folk.. I suppose it's something similar to how kids learn to sit, crawl and walk - it "just happens" ... or does it?

Honestly, we were never really concerned about T's progression with speech.. I'd been advised early on to not worry about milestones.. it was great advice too.. if you sit and worry that your child isn't meeting each milestone, you will be disappointed and be depressed - guaranteed.  I'm not saying not to be concerned and definitely seek medical advice if your child isn't "keeping up" but if you have your diagnosis and you know to expect delays then expect delays and roll with it.  So anyway, T was seeing a speech language pathologist as part of her therapy team at the treatment centre.  It was one of her favorite appointments as the therapist would play games with her, show her pictures, try to get her to model sounds and words.. it was great fun for her which is key when you want her to participate and see results.

Our therapist suggested that we get on the waiting list for the Hanen course (I mentioned this earlier) called "It Takes Two to Talk" http://www.hanen.org/web/Home/HanenPrograms/ItTakesTwoToTalk/tabid/76/Default.aspx  Both my husband and I attended class every week for 2 hours and we had homework to do.  The idea is that the family/home situation is the best place to teach communication and reinforce good speech patterns, etc.  We started the course with a visit from one of the instructors where they videotaped us interacting with our daughter.  They then played the tape back and analyzed our interactions - giving us pointers on how we could improve communication.  We did a few of these sessions throughout the course and we would also view the video clips in class along with the other parents and we could provide suggestions/encouragement/comments on the other videos as well.

One thing I remember the most was that we had two parents in our class of a little boy who had Down's Syndrome.  They were not shy by any means but they were definitely concerned for their son and his language.  They were concerned that he wasn't meeting the language milestones with the appropriate number of words for his age.  As we watched their video - we were all amazed.  Yes he didn't have much of a verbal vocabulary but he was signing NON STOP.  I swear, this kid had at least 100 words in sign language - probably more at the time than any of the other children.  They were shocked when discussion time came for their video when we (including the instructors) were congratulating them on the fabulous communication they had with their son..  he was able to communicate with them, no one was frustrated, the messages were clear.  One thing I loved about this course is that they support and encourage alternate forms of communication - sign language is just as valuable as verbal and can even be used in combination with verbal language.

To this day if T thinks I haven't heard what she said or I'm not paying attention, she will say the word AND do the sign just to make sure I understand her.  I think EVERY parent should teach their child sign language from an early age - you will be amazed at how much they can communicate with you early on and how less frustrated they will be knowing that they can communicate with you.  I was SO thrilled the other day when my youngest (11 months) signed "more" to me at the breakfast table.. awesome buddy.

It looks like they have this program all around the world
http://www.hanen.org/web/Home/SpeechLanguagePathologistsTherapists/FindaHanenSLPT/tabid/62/Default.aspx

I would HIGHLY recommend finding a location near you and enrolling in the course - you and your child will benefit from it!

Oh - in case you are a results based kind of person.. we're about 2 years after taking the course and working with our daughter and she is age appropriate with her speech now and no issues now at all.. In fact, I think she's pretty grown-up with her speech and very creative too .. telling me she couldn't "finish her orange juice because it lowers my IQ" .. nice try kiddo.

Missing out on a "normal" childhood

Here is a little article that I've read a bunch of times over the past few years.. just re-read it this morning.  It's meant to help others understand what it's like raising a child with a disability.

http://www.our-kids.org/Archives/Holland.html