Originally Posted By TMICHAEL Yes, but my Lady_K, in the event of an evacuation the CM's wouldn't know this nor should they. Also, he would have to be wearing 'shoes' of some sort in order to ride. I did not work Indy, way after my years there, but I have been evacuated off of it and you must climb down a ladder to get out of the transport. Then walk out in a group gathering other groups along the route. Rules are set in place for the safety of all the guests and to cover Disneys' liability, obviously. In your case, I could see where a manager/lead should have been called on scene and had the final say. BUT the CM was correctly doing their job as trained.
Originally Posted By TMICHAEL And actually, very interested in how the OP, RockerMomSB, was injured. Not a whole lot of info there. Every time we've had a disabled in our party, no problems were to be had.
Originally Posted By ImaDLFan "And I might add that it's a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act to ask someone to "prove" they have a disability.†I believe my intention was to show that some people do abuse the Americans with Disabilities act. Thankfully my DD works at a park where if the guest is not following park rules they CAN be asked to leave. I don’t think they set out to prove people are faking disabilities and never said or meant anything of the sort. I know they don’t but if it happened they would be asked to leave. I agree with TM (post 17) makes me laugh as well; we experience people abusing the ADA quite often in the wide world. Perhaps DL gathers a different crowd-I'm sure of it-that's why I enjoy it. As I said earlier we work with the disabled on a limited basis so we are sensitive to their plight. People who abuse the ADA undermine all the work, effort and education that make life easier for those living with a disability.
Originally Posted By imadisneygal "I don’t think they set out to prove people are faking disabilities and never said or meant anything of the sort." What you said was this, "Sadly she gets a lot of people pretending to have disabilities when they actually don’t. I might add those people get asked to leave the park when it can be proven." So yes, you did say that if a disability can't be proven then the guest is kicked out. It is one thing to ask a guest to leave for not following the rules of a park, and another to ask them to leave when they claim to have a disability but cannot provide "proof." Requiring proof is against the ADA. As for not believing that MOST people who use the GAC or disabled facilities or entrances at Disneyland are not faking it, then I don't know what to tell you. MOST Guests who use the entrances truly need it. Some do not, those people have to live with themselves and explain to their children why it's O.K. to lie. Abuse definitely happens but for the most part Guests at the Resort who use the entrances need it.
Originally Posted By 8 ilovemickey 8 I just wanted to point out that abuse doesn't just come with whether a guest is disabled or not.
Originally Posted By imadisneygal That is true, but this thread is specifically about Guest with disabilities and their encounters with CM's at the Resort. But yes, you're right. I also want to say that it's possible I'm misinterpreting what ImaDLFan is saying about his/her (I truly don't know...not trying to be rude) daughter works. Maybe the guests get kicked out when groups of teenagers grab a wheelchair and then trade off riding in it and going through the disabled entrances or something like that. I apologize if I am misunderstanding what you meant, ImaDLFan. I continue to believe, however, that most people are not going to pretend to be disabled and get extra assistance when they do not need it. MOST people will do the right thing. It's the ones who abuse the system that get the most attention and notice even from the CM's.
Originally Posted By knoxvelour Serious question here...if it's against the ADA to rquire proof of a disabiity, then why the requirement to display a a handicap placard on your car in order to park in those spaces right in front of the grocery store?
Originally Posted By ImaDLFan I think you do (intentionally?) misunderstand me. My daughter is one (of several, of course) that is called when there is a problem in the park...she sees it all. My disclaimer of "when it can be proven" I felt should have been enough explanation to show this is a delicate matter and can’t be proven easily. I did not say that all the people who ask for assistance are faking a disability. I assumed (pardon me, shouldn’t do that) that we were speaking rationally and that most people understand that in an 'amusement' park situation you see thousands of people a day but it’s only the problem situations that create an issue. Once again I add that “people who abuse the ADA undermine all the work, effort and education that make life easier for those living with a disability.†That’s really all I was trying to say and add to the topic but since I’m so far off topic at this point I wont add anymore.
Originally Posted By imadisneygal I was certainly not intentionally misunderstanding you. I was just misunderstanding you. I've seen it all, too, at Disneyland. I was a manager in Guest Relations and Main Entrance. I dealt with many situations similar to this myself. I was simply mistaken in my understanding of your post. Nothing more, nothing less. When you said that you see abuse of the ADA "quite often in the wide world" I thought I'd offer my opinion that it does not happen "quite often" at Disneyland, but rarely. I think we've beat this dead horse long enough. It was not my intention to be rude, or dismissive of your daughter's job in enforcing theme park rules. I apologize. And for what it's worth, I totally agree with your statement about people who abuse the ADA. As a result of the abuse some CM's get jaded and attribute abuse to those who may truly be disabled, or the CM's may see it as more pervasive than it truly is.
Originally Posted By Tinkerbell819 A long time ago, I was at work when one of our regular customers came back from a trip to WDW. She was bragging and laughing about how they rented a wheelchair and pretended a member of their group was handicapped so they wouldn't have to wait in line. I have two sons with Autism and another girl I worked with had a son with Spina bifida. I think our faces turned as red as each others upon hearing this. We probably both missed out on an opportunity to tell someone how lucky they are NOT to have a family member that's handicapped. But, we were so flabbergasted, we didn't say anything.
Originally Posted By dlkozy >>>"I did not work Indy, way after my years there, but I have been evacuated off of it and you must climb down a ladder to get out of the transport. "<<< Considering that people who are dependent upon a wheelchair ARE allowed on this ride-then DL has to have a way for them to evacuate also.
Originally Posted By cwade Ok, I have to make this point, there is no real way for you to know that anyone is abusing the system, as the system allows for those with hidden disabilities. Unless you can get in their heads and listen to their thoughts, you can't know for sure. the only ones that I know for sure are those that I see and hear saying "use my GAC" when they don't want to ride, which is why I think a picture should be printed on the GAC or you should be asked to show I.D. at each attraction, either way would solve this abuse problem. Wheel chairs and GACs do not provide shorter waits though, period, they provide alternate access, so for example you have a place to sit while waiting or can at least lean up against a wall, it is actually not very often that you get a shorter wait (unless you are by yourself, but you can often get shorter waits by yourself anyway in that case, even if there is no single rider line). It just bugs me when people say that people are abusing the system, when they can not possibly know. in all reality about 35-40% of americans have some sort of disability, assuming Disneyland gets an accurate cross section of America, that would mean 35-40% of Americans should be asking for some sort of assistance, last numbers I head reported were that about 20-25% were and that was under the old SAP system, which was "being abused too much, so we had to change it." Needless to say, based on the numbers it wasn't being used enough.
Originally Posted By cwade Also, yes I am rue there are some that abuse it, but you can't know for sure who they are and those of use that truly need it should not suffer because of the few that do abuse it.
