Originally Posted By MinnieSummer Please don't forget that sometimes people in wheelchairs look perfectly healthy and really aren't. My daughter can walk, even run and do figure skating but there are times when she is in a wheelchair due to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. We've gotten many rude remarks from people who see her get out of the chair and on a ride, what they don't realize is the night before her knees were so swollen she couldn't bend them. I'm not defending the girls in the wheelchair, I'm just saying there are some instances that aren't what they seem.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN True.. and there are those instances when it's really apparent. Like when they pass a family of 8 to the front of the line using the wheelchair line, and then, MIRACLE!!! PRAICE THE LORD!!, the person in the wheelchair gets up, walks just fine (and sometimes faster than most) to get on the ride vehicle. I am on to you people and thank God I an unable to change the laws in this country to stop the abuse.
Originally Posted By AuroraRose i think if disney required a "dr's note" or some sort of proof of disability to get a wheelchair guest pass etc. it would cut down on the amount of abuse, and help to alleviate the dirty looks truly disadvanteged people get. I had to provide verification to get my parking pass and did not have a problem with it. I do not mind providing verification, and no one else should if they are truly disabled.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey <<Please don't forget that sometimes people in wheelchairs look perfectly healthy and really aren't. My daughter can walk, even run and do figure skating but there are times when she is in a wheelchair due to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. We've gotten many rude remarks from people who see her get out of the chair and on a ride, what they don't realize is the night before her knees were so swollen she couldn't bend them. I'm not defending the girls in the wheelchair, I'm just saying there are some instances that aren't what they seem.>> I agree 100%. I was in an accident a few weeks ago that temporarily left me with limited mobility. I can walk short distances, but it's difficult to walk longer distances and go up and down stairs. I get looks when I take the elevator! Someone also made a comment about my mother using a wheelchair at WDW. She's 78 (though she doesn't look it) and cannot walk long distances. We get her a chair every time we go to WDW, and we've had people make comments because she transfers from her chair to the attraction. There are some people who abuse the system, but not everyone does. It would be a shame force those who really need wheelchairs and ECVs to bring doctor's notes, etc.
Originally Posted By DrBro22 I definately have a type of stupid that you left out! There were at least 4 groups of people that said, "Hey, lets see how many cameras we can walk in front of!" (One group literally said this.) It makes me so mad because I finally got the perfect picture of the Cinderella castle on my LCD screen when I review my picture and guess what it is: it's someone's head instead of the castle. I was infuriated!
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle >>We've gotten many rude remarks from people who see her get out of the chair and on a ride, what they don't realize is the night before her knees were so swollen she couldn't bend them.<< I can relate to that because my Grandma was in a wheelchair and we would park (legally) in disabled spaces. She was able to walk, but very slowly and she was very frail. We got many rude remarks when my mother would jump out and go to the boot, because people couldn't see my grandmother sitting in the passenger seat. I definitely don't judge people just from transferring from a wheelchair to a ride, because I know not everyone who's in a wheelchair is paralysed or so on. But I'm nearly 100% sure these girls weren't at all disabled - I'd imagine most disabled people would at least struggle slightly when getting out of the chair. This girl just leapt right out with ABSOLUTELY no effort - I have bad knees so she probably got out with less difficulty than I would have!
Originally Posted By MinnieSummer The true solution for this would be to have all lines wheelchair accessible -- then there would be no benefit for people to lie about needing the wheelchair. Or, if that's not possible, have the person in the wheelchair go as far in the line as they can then have them go to the wheelchair entrance and wait for the person in front of them in the line to board -- although that would require additional CM's standing in the line.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I think that most are that way now. ADA requires that entrances be "Accessible" so that everyone can feel equal and mainstreamed. There is very little line usurping anymore.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy Okay. I'll ask. What does "ROLFMAO" stand for? That one's new to me... I'm pretty sure we're agreeing.....
Originally Posted By MinnieSummer I think my 2nd worse encounter has to be the people in the food courts who let their children race around looking for an empty table. I've had kids knock into me hard enough to tip the entire contents of my tray because I was just about to sit at a table they wanted -- they weren't there yet but they wanted it. In one instance the Mother actually told me that her son had seen it first.
Originally Posted By DrBro22 >>Okay. I'll ask. What does "ROLFMAO" stand for? That one's new to me...<< It means, "Rolling On Floor Laughing My F****** A** Off"
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I think it should have been ROFLMAO. That would be "Rolling On Floor Laughing My A** Off. It's a little more "Gentile"
Originally Posted By crazyformickey I think those in wheelchairs should have a waiting area and everyone else in their party should wait with everyone else. When they get to the front of the line they join up with the person in the wheelchair line. I have a bad knee, and young kids and we wait in lines sometimes up to a hour and it just get me so mad when a family of 12 just walks up and gets to ride because ONE person in their party is in a wheelchair.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost Gentile = Genteel That kind of mistake could cause a real LP uprising. Sorry I should have double checked before posting. Please forgive!
Originally Posted By knightnfrees <<It's a little more "Gentile">> Oy! We should be so lucky! <<Gentile = Genteel That kind of mistake could cause a real LP uprising. Sorry I should have double checked before posting. Please forgive!>> No worries, Goofyernmost. I send a Rabbi over to bless your post.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey <<I have a bad knee, and young kids and we wait in lines sometimes up to a hour and it just get me so mad when a family of 12 just walks up and gets to ride because ONE person in their party is in a wheelchair.>> The belief that wheelchair guests and their parties board rides before veryone elseis a complete fallacy. Nearly all of the rides in WDW allow wheelchair guests and their parties to queue up with other guests, and once they near the boarding point, the wheelchair party is taken to a separate boarding area. The only exceptions I can think of are Spaceship Earth and some of the rides in Fantasyland (perhaps Pooh?). My mother utilizes a wheelchair when we go to WDW, and I promise you we don't board any faster than regular parties 99% of the time.
Originally Posted By MinnieSummer The belief that people with wheelchairs exists because it's only been in the last several years that attraction lines accomodated wheelchairs. In years past people with wheelchairs did get on the rides ahead of others.
Originally Posted By lilgoofymom It is sometimes very difficult to "see" a person's disability.At 40 years old, I am currently recovering from my 2nd bought of Congestive Heart Failure. Someone just looking at me would not be able to guess that I have anything wrong with me. It is embarrassing sometimes to be in public, because I am limited to lifting only 5lbs. or less. My Mother will grab the bags or things out of our shopping cart and people look at me like "you big lazy lump, Why is she carryng and you are just standing there." I am thankful that I am not in a wheelchair and can walk for myself. I know it is frusterating to stand in a long line only to have many people bypass you just because they are with someone who has a health limitation. I agree that Disney should handle this differently. Maybe If there is a large group with a health restricted person maybe one person could stay with that person in the wheel chair area while the rest stand in the regular que. Then when the rest of the party gets to the front of the line everyone load together. That would be the fair thing to do. Some people cannot stay by themselves that is why I say allow someone to stay with the wheel chair limited person.
Originally Posted By brerroadrunner How about the parents who send the young kids scrambling, cutting in front of everyone and running to grab a seat and holding for the rest of their family on the tain, boat, monorail, etc. and being extremely rude about it. And, arriving early to have a nice spot for one of the parades only to have people pushing under the rope to sqeeze a family of five into your spot just one minute before the parade starts after you've been sitting in it for an hour.
