Concerned by some things I've been reading...

[Shelly]

I was just speaking to a friend at work about this issue, she just returned from DW and commenteed on the large groups that would go to the front with a wheel chair. That is what bothered her the most.
Is there any kind of llimit on number of people allowed to the front with a hani capped person? anyone know. Also, my husband has severe arthritis he is young
I was thinking of getting him a wheel chair for his bad days, but not going to the front of lines with it. Do you have to have any kind of medical note to rent one.
Do people that do go to the front of lines need a medical not. I hops.

 

[SueM in MN]

I was just speaking to a friend at work about this issue, she just returned from DW and commenteed on the large groups that would go to the front with a wheel chair. That is what bothered her the most.
Is there any kind of llimit on number of people allowed to the front with a hani capped person? anyone know. Also, my husband has severe arthritis he is young
I was thinking of getting him a wheel chair for his bad days, but not going to the front of lines with it. Do you have to have any kind of medical note to rent one.
Do people that do go to the front of lines need a medical not. I hops.

Welcome to disABILITIES.
The situation of large groups going to the front of a line with a wheelchair are usually a case of someone seeing something and making assumptions about what they have seen. Many times, the assumption is wrong.
As I posted earlier on this page,

Most of the lines at WDW are Mainstream Access, which means that the lines are wheelchair accessible and wheelchair users wait in line with everyone else. If you see someone "disappear" from the line and assume they are getting "front of the line treatment, you will be wrong. What you can't see is that most of the time, the people you saw disappear don't get on right away; they go somewhere else to wait.

AK and MGM were built with Mainstream Access; there are no special "handicapped lines" or front of line access for people with disabilities just because they use a wheelchair. MK and Ecpot were not built with Mainstream Access, but as much as possible, it was added as rides/attractions were added or renovated.
If you actually talk to people who use wheelchairs rather than people who have seen people who use wheelchairs, you get a different picture.
So what is happening?
For some rides, wheelchair users can't board at the regular boarding spot and need to be routed to the exit or another spot for boarding. Usually, they are waiting in the regular line until just before boarding. If my family were maybe 5 people behind you in line for Buzz Lightyear, you may not see that we were waiting until the final turn before the regular line goes to the boarding area. At that point, we are pulled out of the line to go to the exit. You might see us go by you and think we did not wait because you didn't notice us behind you. So, later on, you tell your firends that you saw someone "go to the front of the line" in Buzz Lightyear. Besides not seeing us waiting in line, you don't see that once we get to the exit, we have to wait for the wheelchair boarding car or for a CM to be available to help us board. You may have already finished riding by the time we get on.
Also, since we board at the exit, that means we ride the car around as it goes thru the normal boarding area. People who are waiting in line to board see us sitting in those cars. Since they didn't see us in line, they assume, we got in thru a back door or something and were taken to the front of the line.

Another thing that happens is people with wheelchairs may come to an attraction, but are told when they get there that there are already too many people with special needs waiting to get on. They are usually given a slip of paper (sort of an imprompto FastPass) with a time to return. In our experience, the return time is usually equal to the current time people are waiting in the standby (regular) line. This also occurs in lines where the FastPass line is wheelchair accessible, but the regular line isn't. If I come to the attraction without a FastPass, I don't have the option of waiting in the regular line, because it's not accessible. So, the CM gives me a return time. When I come back, some people who are in line see me and assume I am "going to the front of the line with a wheelchair."

Another situation is FastPass. Many people who are waiting in the standby (regular) line don't really understand Fastpass. They assume people "did" something to get on the ride using the Fastpass line. So, they see a family with a wheelchair user who had gotten Fastpasses using that Fastpass line and they assume they are in the line and "going to the front of the line" because they have a wheelchair. If there are other people with Fastpasses who are close to the person using the wheelchair party, the groups blend together and it looks like a "large group going to the front of the line with a wheelchair."

There are a few rides that were not able to be made wheelchair accessible. Most are in MK. For those few rides, the only way for someone who can't walk in line to go on them is to use an alternate boarding area. FOr those boarding areas, the party size is 6 (5 plus the person with a disability). Sometimes people observe 2 special needs parties who are right behind each other (maybe the person with a disability in the 2nd party uses an ECV, but left it at the entrance because it was too hard to manouver in the line). So, the 2 parties of up to 6 people are behind one person using a wheelchair and all of a sudden, it looks like a "large group going to the front of the line with a wheelchair."

For shows, they do often seat the wheelchair parties first. That's because there are limited numbers of wheelchair spots and it's easier to seat the wheelchair parties without having to deal with the crowds of people who will be walking in. But, the limited number of wheelchair spots means it is possible to arrive for a show such as Festival of the Lion King and not have any more wheelchair spots available when you arrive, even though there are "regular" spots still available. This happens even if you have a FastPass; we have arrived at Bug's Life and at Little Mermaid for our FastPass return time, but had to wait for the next show because all the wheelchair spots were already taken for that show (even though the regular seats were not full and people in the standby line were being seated).

So, the reality is often different than what someone sees (or thinks they see).

 

[Joanna71985]

I try not to judge people in wheelchairs because, like people said, there are "invisable" disabilities. The one thing that really gets me mad, however, is when people make a fuss about MAK or GKTW kids going to meet the characters ahead of them. I mean, come on. It's 5 minutes out of your life and you're helping make a kid happy. If the attendant asks you to let the kid go up, let the kid go. Sheesh. I'm sorry, I had to get that off my chest.

 

[Grammyof2]

I am fairly new to the boards, but have been lurking for years. I wanted to comment on some of the statements I have read on these boards.
I am relatively young, 47. I have Multiple Sclerosis. I sometimes use a cane. walker and wheelchair. I look very healthy.
I never park in handicap unless I am alone. I don't want to be alone and fall.
There are alot of places that aren't handicap friendly. WDW is not only handicap friendly, they allow me to spend time with friends and family and not feel like everyone is making choices based on where I can go. I love going to the world. So many parks are not equipped for the needs of the whole population and those with special needs already know this.
I would love it if everyone was healthy and created equal but that is not realistic. I am glad that this board is here. Hopefully it will allow others to see that things are not always as they seem from the outside.
Our family vacations, (parents, brothers, sisters, children, spouses, grandchildren) are always a joy. Thank God for WDW and all they have done to make it the happiest place in the world for so many that otherwise would not be able to enjoy simple pleasures. to all. Thanks for letting me rattle on. See everybody at Mickey's house.

 

[Mymatisse]

Sorry to keep coming back to the parking thing. I apologize to the OP for taking this so off topic.

I ran in to a perfect example of abuses on my way home from work. I stopped at the supermarket. There were 4 handicapped parking spaces. 2 were occupied as I pulled up.

In one of these spaces a 30s something man got out of the car and walked in, he didn't seem to have any problem but I admit he may have a hidden disability.

The second spot had an elderly Lady sitting in the pasenger seat, before I had unloaded my wheelchair and entered the store a young 20s lady came out of the store and entered the car. I'm fairly certain this is an abuse situation since the placard seemed to be for the elderly lady and she wasn't going in the store.

The last spot was filled as I was getting out of my car. A young man with no tag or placard. He parked and then jogged inside. I saw him using the ATM machine inside as I entered the store.

As I exited the store the spaces were filled with different people.

A different elderly lady waiting in the passenger seat. Again I'm just assuming that the person inside was not disabled.

A car with no tag or placard. A young male sitting in it, I assume he's waiting for someone who went inside.

An elderly couple. Seemed to me to be a perfectly fine use of the handicapped placard.

So in my little trip to the store I ran into 2 abuses of the placard, one possible abuse, 2 total abuses of the handicapped parking spot and one use that seemed perfectly legitimate. BTW on entering and exiting the store the handicapped parking was full. I know there may be extenuating circumstances for these, but this is how I saw it.

I have been reading this thread and have not finished it so I appologize if I repeat something that someone else has said already. I think the problem is when you make assumptions about people and what their impairment may or may not be. I know people who have Lupus and can't be out in the sun not to mention are sometimes in terrible pain. I know a few people, including myself who are allergic to the cold. Although this may sound odd, it does happen and cold weather can result in anaphylaxis.

While granted there are some people who abuse disabled parking, I think by being unwilling or unable to look at things from another persons perspective is wrong too. It's not fair to judge people when you know NOTHING about their life and what their going through.

 

[samkj]

I am fairly new to the boards, but have been lurking for years. I wanted to comment on some of the statements I have read on these boards.
I am relatively young, 47. I have Multiple Sclerosis. I sometimes use a cane. walker and wheelchair. I look very healthy.
I never park in handicap unless I am alone. I don't want to be alone and fall.
There are alot of places that aren't handicap friendly. WDW is not only handicap friendly, they allow me to spend time with friends and family and not feel like everyone is making choices based on where I can go. I love going to the world. So many parks are not equipped for the needs of the whole population and those with special needs already know this.
I would love it if everyone was healthy and created equal but that is not realistic. I am glad that this board is here. Hopefully it will allow others to see that things are not always as they seem from the outside.
Our family vacations, (parents, brothers, sisters, children, spouses, grandchildren) are always a joy. Thank God for WDW and all they have done to make it the happiest place in the world for so many that otherwise would not be able to enjoy simple pleasures. to all. Thanks for letting me rattle on. See everybody at Mickey's house.

You are a wonderful person! Your feelings describe EXACTLY why we are Disney fans all the way. Our 7 year old has severe cerebral palsy, and DL is the only place we have ever been that allows her to be a normal kid. The fact that the Disney CM's go out of their way to make her trip special means more to us than I will ever be able to say. Thank you for posting this.

 

[MommytoMJM]

One other thing you may see maybe a child in a wheelchair with other disabilities as well...MJ has a variety of disabilities and we often wait elsewhere to acocomodate her autism or sun sensitivity due to meds even tho the line is WC accessible.

 

[rafiki77]

Hi everyone- My dad uses a wheelchair because of having mutliple strokes, and heart attacks, and cancer. He is paralyzed on his right side. regarding the whole problem with handicap parking. If there isn't a hc parking available, but a regular spot available, we will park there. I just park the car super close to the car on our right so that I can manuever the wc as close as possible to my dads door. I then carry him (5'11" and 170 lbs) to the chair (I'm 4'10" and 175). Someone had mentioned earlier if you park in a regular spot, then you don't need the handicap placard. But thats not true. Because of the brain damage my dad suffered in his strokes, you can't talk him out of things without it taking hours to do. He can only speak a few words. Besides his stubborness. If you are handicap and require a spot but none are available, and you really need to go in the store or whatever, you will find a way. We do!

 

[JenJen]

I just read this entire thread (now my neck hurts LOL) Although normally I get a GAC for my two kids (one is 13 with Aspergers and ADD and the other is 10 with ADHD and sensory issues) Last week I got one for myself. I am one of those that has invisibles illnesses and I went with a friend not my kids. I look Healthy! Very Healthy! I am 30 years old and I look 25 at the most. But I have multiple medical problems such as CFIDS, Fibromyalgia, and I take topomax for seizures. (Now I know why I don't do well in heat) I also was recently diagnosed with a mild form of brittle bone disease. When a fastpass line was available it was great because I did not get looks but when I have to use the alternate entrance I did get a few. I just ignored the people. I think they want you to react to what they are saying and by reacting you are giving them what they want.
I love Disney but after going I am in bed for days and that is without waiting in the main que area. It is getting to the point I might not be able to go anymore. I tried getting a EVC once and I was still exhausted. It did not matter. Just going to the store causes extreme pain and fatigue for a day or two. I have a handicap placard but I felt guilty for using it so I have not used it for months. I am Mobil but I am limited on how long and far I walk because I will pay for days. So just because someone walks fine or looks fine please don't assume that they are taking advantage of the system. I would give anything to be normal again.