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Why Disney Shouldn’t Have Asked Autism Speaks (Disability Access Pass)

By Penny 19 Comments

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2013-10-10 13.23.39

 

The blogosphere  and Twitterverse is abuzz about the new changes that Disney made to their Guest Assistance Card (GAC) this week.  Since we have annual passes to Disney, I went out just with Logan to check it out the day after the new Disability Access Pass (DAS) arrived.  I took just Logan so we could hopefully get a handle on it before adding the littles to the mix.  Boy am I ever so glad I did.   This system is severely flawed.   Let me give you the info on it.

Photo Oct 11, 9 14 57 PM

 

Under the old system all we had to do was

  • stop at Guest Relations
  •  explain Logan’s autism
  •  get a pass that allowed us to bypass the standard queues and go straight to the Fastpass line.

This meant that we didn’t need to jostle around with odoriferous people keeping Logan’s sensory issues at bay.  It also allowed us to go later in the evening when it was cooler and the crowds were smaller.  We had a great system where we could have the littles get a Fastpass for Thunder Mountain which Logan won’t ride then go ride some other rides while we waited.  This allowed us to put the littles in the Thunder Mountain line while Logan and I went to ride Haunted Mansion  eliminating the need to wait in the heat for them.  It enabled everyone in our family to enjoy the parks.    Another great perk of the GAC involved riding the ride more than once.  Say Logan wanted to ride Living with the Land so we did.  Then he wanted to immediately ride it again .  We could do that without a problem.  I personally have rode The Great Movie Ride repeatedly to keep him happy while it was raining.  One of his sensory issues is that he doesn’t like wet clothes or shoes on his body.  Walking through the rain is not an option.  That can be a little difficult in Florida during rainy season.  It was not a problem with the old program.  We could ride again and hope the rain had let up in the meantime.

 

das

Under the new Disability Access Pass:

  • Stop at Guest Relations
  • Answer a host of questions about what your child is or is not capable of doing.
  • Have your child’s picture taken and sign the new form stating that you certify there is a disability.
  • Take the pass to a ride to attain a wait time based on the queue line to return minus 10 mins.
  • Return at the allotted time or anytime thereafter to enter the Fastpass lane and ride the attraction
  • You are now free to get another wait time as you can only have one at a time
  • Repeat the waiting game again

Disney states that you are free to take in a show or stand in another line to ride while you wait.  Find a shady spot.  Whatever you choose.  They also suggest you utilize their Fastpass or Fastpass+ system in addition to the DAS to help make waiting easier for your child.  What they fail to mention is that most Fastpasses are gone by mid afternoon thereby making them ineffective for those families who go in the evening like us .  In the Fastpass+ system , you can only get 3 Fastpasses per day for one park.  If you’ve paid extra for park hopper tickets or have an annual pass like us which enables you to move from park to park then you are solely at the mercy of the DAS after you’ve used the Fastpasses in the first park.

Disney collaborated with Autism Speaks in an effort to make a system that would work for children with autism.  That was their first mistake.  Autism Speaks is more interested in research for a cure , proving that vaccines are safe and debunking the biomedical route.  They do no research with families or even speak to families with children with autism.  They have no basis for speaking  for autism families yet they want to be the one that speaks for everyone.  Therein lies the problem.  You can’t help a major corporation enact a new policy affecting millions of people that you know nothing about in the first place.   It’s  quite apparent that whoever drafted this policy has never taken a child with autism out in public .

What’s wrong here is that waiting for something involves a higher executive function than most children with autism have.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying they are the village idiots.  I am saying that their brains are wired differently and that is a function that takes dedicated work to improve.  Autism Speaks should know that.  They should have been adamant in telling Disney that there needed to be a plan in place that allowed them access without waiting for every ride.  Have you ever tried telling a non verbal child with autism that he can’t ride his favorite ride yet?   What are they going to do when the child has an ensuing meltdown? Call Security?  What pray tell do they expect us to do while we wait for the time to ride?  Most children with autism have hyper focus on one thing.  That’s all they can think about.  There is no transitioning from one thing to another with ease.  I know thousands of parents who wish their child could transition easily.  Autism Speaks failed autism families everywhere.  That’s where Disney went wrong.  They need to speak with an organization that actually interacts and knows children with autism .  Not one that spends the majority of their time and resources on other things.

One other thing that Disney does not address are the thousands of people who are erroneously in wheelchairs or scooters that have the ability to wait in line.   They are still able to access the mobility impaired line which brings them to the front of the line for every ride.  There are far more people abusing that than there ever were abusing the GAC.  I’ll address that in my post about our experience that not magical day.

 

 

 

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Comments

  1. Amy Arnold says

    October 12, 2013 at 2:11 am

    I am in complete agreement with you! While I imagine they saw Autism Speaks as the national organization that claims to speak for us, it was not a good choice. Thank you for this explanation because our school will no longer be able to take field trips there. So sad.

    Reply
    • Penny says

      October 12, 2013 at 2:37 am

      Amy, I think that eventually Disney will do the right thing. I don’t believe that they purposely alienated us. Just that they were given poor advice by an organization that should have known better.

      Reply
      • John says

        October 17, 2013 at 1:21 pm

        ….but, Autism Speaks has clearly stated that they did not design or endorse the DAS program. Frankly, they had no right to do so either. Disney is a private entity and all decisions that they’d make would be theirs alone. I keep seeing / hearing in blogs and different boards that “Autism Speaks let us down” …or …”threw us under the bus”. Based on a video on their site …they take no responsibility for the design of the DAS program.

        That said ….Disney had to change the system so that the FP+ and MagicBands system will function as designed. Contrary to the notion that this was done because “people were cheating the system” …that’s not true at all. The system was failing because Disney was too lenient in the distribution and operation of the GAC card system. The majority of the “abuse” was from the disabled community in the form of over-use. This is about people management …crowd management ….and keeping the lines at the attractions moving. Those that are in the stand-by line were being negatively impacted by dozens of people with GAC’s just walking into the FP lines at random ….with some other persons in tow …and expecting instant access. There was also a line-wait-time impact caused by “loopers” …people that just kept repeating the ride over and over.

        Disney will, perhaps, tweak the system to some extent ….but not to the point where it goes back to what it was. Those days are long gone. They will make their new system work …within the limits of the law, and if the system doesn’t work for everyone, they’ll accept that too. There is a huge variety of “stuff” to do at Disney parks ….but even as such, it’s definitely not a “one size fits all” destination.

        Reply
        • Penny says

          October 27, 2013 at 6:07 pm

          Disney has announced and continues to maintain that their policy was drafted and endorsed by Autism Speaks who gave their blessing to it. The fact that it indeed does not work for the very people they claim to speak for is just a testimony to their ignorance.

          The problem with the old system is that people were abusing it. I get that and completely agree. To completely go to the opposite extreme is not the answer either. There is a happy medium here. It just needs to be discovered and discussed.

          I spend thousands of dollars a year on annual passes for my family of 5. With autism rates at 1 in 88, there are more families than not affected by it who will spend thousands of dollars there as well. What we will not do is spend thousands of dollars on something that does not work for our children with autism. Disney will realize that sooner or later.

          Thanks for commenting on my blog!

          Reply
  2. Sandy H says

    October 12, 2013 at 10:41 am

    Let’s be honest here. There is abuse in every system out there. I work in an industry where I see people every day getting disability benefits and/or food stamp benefits that clearly do not need it. They are cheating the system and yet society doesn’t allow for all disability and/or food assistance to be cut off because of the abusers. Will the new system at Disney work for some…sure. Will it work for all….absolutely NOT.

    The reason behind this change was bad press. I really enjoyed how Mark Astle over on McClain Special Needs Advocate put it: “For the majority of cast members in the attractions department, the use of GAC’s is a non-issue, and the percentage of people using them, in comparison to the total number of visitors in the park, is minimal to say the least. In short, even if one out of every five cards was being misused (a number I pulled out of the air), it would still not amount to anything that would warrant such radical policy changes. ”

    Obviously, there are still tweaks to be made in the new system that doesn’t appropriately accommodate the more severely disabled. I am sure at some point Disney will make those tweaks. However, the decisions to make those tweaks are going to come from individuals who show Disney how it doesn’t work for them. I applaud Autism Hippie and other bloggers that are willing to show their reality to the world, in order, to make a point to Disney. As a parent of a child with autism, it is your job to advocate for your child. And as a parent of a child with autism, there is always going to be masses of people out there that criticize how you parent or advocate for your child. For the naysayers that say keep your kid at home, well that is just abuse. We cannot keep these kids locked up in a home 24-7. There is so much hardship and stress in raising a child or children with autism. But, there is so much beauty and joy when you find the one thing that gets a genuine smile, laugh, or comment.

    I beg you to please stop bashing these parents that are trying to advocate for their children. I don’t think that any of the bloggers set out to have a public fight with any of their readers. I can imagine its very difficult not to respond to the people being so nasty. I say keep doing what you are doing parents, and keep showing Disney how to give your child A Magical Day!

    Reply
    • Penny says

      October 12, 2013 at 8:32 pm

      While I agree with the majority of your comment, I must admit that I am a little perplexed. I am not bashing any blogger . I am simply stating that if Autism Speaks wants to be the only organization to speak for autism families then perhaps they should get to know a few. Most of their funding goes to research on how children are born with autism. That is not true in our case and the vast majority of cases in my opinion. It’s a mismanagement of dollars, imho. What I have trouble accepting is that this organization has chosen to speak for a community they know nothing about.

      Yes, it’s my job to advocate for my child. As a blogger, I feel a responsibility to my readers to blog about stuff I know something about. This is one of those things. How you got that I was bashing other bloggers is beyond me but you are entitled to your own opinion as I am to mine.

      Short story is, this program does not work for my high functioning highly verbal child. Imagine the frustration of those children who can not speak for themselves. This policy change is not beneficial to us or Disney. I am confident that they will tweak the system to make it work for more people.

      As always, thanks for commenting on my blog! I appreciate your point of view even if it’s different from mine!

      Reply
  3. Amy W says

    October 12, 2013 at 3:57 pm

    I do believe all special needs children will be affected by this. My son while in a wheelchair cannot handle a whole day at the park due to Muscular dystrophy. People are in error when they think he can. He tires due to what he has. Imagine all your muscle just weak all the time like when you have the flu. It takes him so much effort just to sit. Seriously all the things we normal healthy people do without effort is a challenge for him. I am so sad as to how this will affect all Special Needs children that need this extra help to enjoy an amusement park. I hope Disney will dramatically tweak this system.

    Reply
    • Penny says

      October 12, 2013 at 8:24 pm

      I absolutely agree! I think people should have to walk in our shoes before passing policies that affect us this dramatically. I am confident that Disney has simply been misinformed and will change the system to better fit the needs of our children. Thanks for commenting!

      Reply
      • Amy W says

        October 12, 2013 at 10:05 pm

        Thanks for posting about your experience with the new system and if you go back and try again at a later date to see if they improve it please share again. We live a good distance away and it is a trip we plan way ahead. I hope it gets changed by the time we can make another trip there. Thanks!

        Reply
        • Penny says

          October 13, 2013 at 2:12 am

          Absolutely! I will be blogging our experiences probably weekly. We are trying out Epcot this week.

          Reply
  4. Jen says

    October 13, 2013 at 4:19 am

    This SERIOUSLY had me in tears! My daughter is a nonverbal autistic and everything you mentioned is what we have to go through also. Disney seriously needed to do hands on experience with autistic children and how this would effect their experience. The amount of ignorance I have been reading from people, think this new system will make it more “fair.” It really baffles me when people tell me “why don’t you just wait…” I try to explain, but after awhile I just want to say..you know what..here, take her for the day, you won’t make it more then 20 minutes before you realize how much strength it takes to live with these challenges daily.

    Reply
  5. Andrea N says

    October 14, 2013 at 2:33 am

    Thank you for writing about your experience at MK. I am a mom of 1 and step mom of 5. My daughter has severe anxiety and is on hospital/homebound with school. One of my step sons has autism. Three more of my step kids are intellectually disabled. The old GAC was like a dream. All oft he kids could enjoy the parks and their dada and I could enjoy ourselves, as well. With this new system, a lot more stress seems to be placed on the parents’ shoulders; averting meltdowns, finding something else to do when their hopes are for the ride you go to, etc. I am now scared to take all the kids to the parks. I have no desire to subject my kids to the looks and sneers from people that have no idea what they are feeling. My older ones have heard comments made by people in the crowds about their flapping brother and the little one screaming that he wants to ride the race track not Small World. N child should be subjected to even the possibility to have to hear those kinds of things. At least with the old GAC, the other people around you understood. All 6 of my kids absolutely LOVE Disney. It is almost all my ASD stepson talks about. I am very disappointed in Disney’s overreaction to a few bad apples!

    Reply
  6. Jon says

    December 8, 2013 at 6:01 pm

    Login to Facebook and like my page “boycott Disney for eliminating the guest assistance card “

    Reply
  7. fb covers says

    March 12, 2014 at 6:45 am

    Greate post. Keep posting such kind of information on your blog.
    Im really impressed by it.
    Hello there, You’ve performed a fantastic job. I will certainly digg it and in my view suggest to my friends.
    I am sure they will be benefited from this website.

    Reply
  8. goddesscottage says

    December 2, 2014 at 10:59 pm

    Disneyland is a public accommodation under the ADA. This means you can ask for an accommodation of their one size fits all policy. The GAC is the definition of disability discrimination because it fails to look at the specific needs of each person and instead says ALL PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES NEED THIS.

    Reply
  9. Kate Scully says

    August 29, 2017 at 8:45 am

    I live in Europe and the pass system in Paris is still, access the exits. My son would not understand why we have approached a ride and then leave it to wait under a tree.

    I appreciate there have been abuses but Disney is one of the few joys and this new system makes it impossible for us to travel to Florida.

    What a shame

    Reply
    • Penny says

      August 30, 2017 at 5:12 pm

      I agree that a few ruined for those who needed it.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Finding Florida: Legoland Florida says:
    November 30, 2013 at 12:08 am

    […]  I did contact Legoland about their disability system.  They have a pass similar to the old Disney GAC.  I did not get one at Guest Services as the lines are usually short for every ride.  The park […]

    Reply
  2. Top 10 Posts of 2014 says:
    December 31, 2014 at 8:03 am

    […] Why Disney Shouldn’t Have Asked Autism Speaks (Disability Access Pass) […]

    Reply

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Call me Penny, wife to Michael as well as mom to Logan who has autism and Madison who is pursuing a dance career. Based on my own personal and often difficult experiences with autism, I hope to educate families of children with autism on how to navigate their world from pre diagnosis to adulthood.

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