Many people enjoy Disney; it was known as a safe place for disabled people. Disney had provided a lot of support for its disabled guests, such as creating a separate line for disabled people that had more room and wasn’t as crowded that was helpful for wheelchair users and people with sensory issues like autism. People in this line still had to wait their turn, but it helped make the parks accessible.
In recent years, Disney parks have gotten a lot stricter on who can use the accessibility lanes. Guests who want a Disability Access Service (DAS) pass now have to do a video interview with a Disney worker and a contracted medical professional to determine their eligibility. Guests who previously had a pass now have to reapply for a new one.
Shannon Bonadurer, a Disney guest who is unable to wait for long periods of time in the heat as she uses an ileostomy bag, and her 25 year old son, who is blind, has cerebral palsy and autism, were both denied passes.
“They are making a determination about whether you’re disabled enough,” said Bonadurer. “I would love to wait in line with everyone else, and so would my son, since that would mean he has a normal life. But we don’t, and unfortunately for us, we need adaptations to how we wait.”
A Minecraft YouTuber known online as Goodtimeswithscar, or Scar for short, loves Disney and is constantly talking about how much he enjoys the parks even as a wheelchair user. On a recent stream he spoke about how he is upset with the conglomerate for reducing its accessibility to make more money.
“I just felt like Disney had gotten really anti-consumer with a lot of nickel and diming, and then they removed a lot of the stuff for people with disabilities… I also get super super annoyed with the way they’ve treated people with disabilities with getting rid of the pass so they could sell more lightning lanes… My ability to go on rides is now massively diminished, like my value is so low going to the parks now that that’s gone. It’s like, is it worth spending how much it is now to get such a lesser experience?” said Scar on a recent stream.
Disney is essentially deciding who is disabled enough to receive special privileges. This is a very ableist view because, as stated earlier, there is no set measure for disability. Someone could be fine one day and the next day not be able to get out of bed, or they could have an invisible disability like autism, narcolepsy or a chronic illness. One in six people around the world has a disability. In a group of 60 people that is about 10 disabled people. Disney is now facing a federal lawsuit because they are not meeting accessibility needs for disabled guests.
“There was a lot of fraud… I get it. But there’s ways to fix that at the end of the day. You can easily fix that, but they chose to just delete the whole system,” said Scar.
There are also not many rides that wheelchair users can use, as transferring can be difficult, especially for people who can’t stand. This means they can’t do as many things with their family.
“You have to count for if you’re in a wheelchair, and you can’t stand up, and you have to do transferring onto attractions. That’s a huge process that slows down so much of your day,” said Scar.
Disney is supposed to be the happiest place on earth, but compared to its policies a few years ago, it has gotten a lot less disability-friendly. These new policies make it difficult for disabled people and supporters to go or even want to go to the parks. If Disney doesn’t fix this then they are going to keep losing business.
