The Walt Disney Company’s Post

I rarely comment on anything through LinkedIn, but it needs to be brought to light how the Walt Disney Company is treating disabled guests at their parks in the United States. In the past, guests with any disability were able to go to guest relations at one of the parks and claim “disability assess services (DAS)”. This accommodation was not a “front of line” pass, and allowed those suffering from various disabilities to wait for attractions outside of a physical line while they took care of their medical needs. Due to the general population abusing DAS to avoid waiting in physical queues, now guests at The Walt Disney World and Disneyland resorts have to “prove” they are disabled enough for DAS through an invasive interview with Inspire Health Alliance and park cast members. The DAS is now technically designated for those with a diagnosis of autism or similar, but even guests who fit that criteria are being denied. -Continued in comments-

Is Disney really so blind to the harm they’re causing the disability community? They think it’s ok to write fake articles like this to pretend to be advocates for the disabled community all while destroying family’s ability to vacation as a unit or vacation at all with their disabled family members. Telling children to wait alone at the theme parks while their parents wait in the line for them or telling our hero’s our war veterans to learn better ways to “cope” with their brain injuries!! The Disney they write about in this article no longer exists! 

Ironic feature at a time when you are actively discriminating against people with genuine disabilities and offering 'accommodations' which are not suitable. As a regular visitor from the UK I cannot even find out whether we may still qualify for DAS without spending thousands of pounds on flights, accommodation and tickets until 30 days before ? Without DAS the trip is not viable, so I cannot afford to 'gamble' on this. I understand there was a lot of abuse of the DAS system, but why not need proof of disabilty via a system similar to IBCCES to weed out the abusers ? You are breaking the hearts, and losing the repeat business of thousands of your most loyal customers, who just want to be accommodated as they were previously. The most magical place on earth is no longer applicable. Please do better

It’s ironic that Disney is celebrating disability pride and honoring diversity of the disability and neurodivergent community by denying people who need DAS and suggesting neurodivergent peoole spend the day segregated from their families.

I hope that people are aware of the irony here. Under Disney’s new Disability Access Service program (DAS, previously called DAP), Rachel would most likely not even qualify for disability assistance in the parks in the way of alternate attraction queues, being allowed to reserve a spot in a queue virtually and wait in the line in a setting that’s appropriate for her condition. After waiting on hold for 6+ hours and being subject to moderately trained castmembers who at best show no empathy, and in many cases disrespect disabled families, Rachel would likely be told “practice waiting in a line at home”, “wear adult diapers if you have bladder issues”, or simply “you understand what a line is so you don’t qualify”. I’ve been an annual pass holder at Disney for over a decade, and as a veteran with PTSD and Parkinson’s Disease, I do not feel like Disney’s “inclusion” extends to families of people with disabilities. The system was indeed abused by many who faked or lied about disabilities, but families with adults or children with disabilities flocked to Disney prior to these sweeping changes because not only did we feel welcome there, for a time, we didn’t feel inferior to others.

I love the intention of this post, but unfortunately having seen some terribly undignified situations the damage looks like it has been done. The DAS system was abused and needed updating, however it is no less open to abuse now :( . Asking someone with Autism to explain themselves is literally one of the challenges they face is counterintuitive in itself. “Practice waiting in line” is an advice on your own website. If you cannot comprehend the social conventions of a line that’s impossible and literally placing those who need support in danger. Veterans, those with debilitating illnesses where waiting in line is simply not possible are all being denied. Yes there are other accommodations but they need to be consistently trained at the same time to your cast members so that the approach is consistent. Your medical professionals refuse to share their credentials. Ultimately if they are overriding a consultant psychiatrist or specialist then there needs to be more transparency. I have been very cautious about commenting or speaking out but my PhD is focused on how we can make life better for vulnerable communities. I mistakenly thought we were past global ableism. Please review your policies. Please 🙏🏻

The Walt Disney Company it’s great that you are celebrating #DisabilityPrideMonth but it’s an absolute joke with how you are treating the disabled community at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. I have never seen a company disrespect the disabled community and make them feel so unwanted as you are doing right now. I know your executive team is making a lot of calls and hearing from the community so you know what is going on and you say you are listening but you let it continue which tells the disabled community you hear what they are going through and how you are making them feel and it is completely acceptable to continue this way. Please show some empathy and make some changes TODAY!

Rachel’s story is a familiar one to many. Invisible disabilities bring about a whole new world of struggle. In the past, Disney Parks were amazing at understanding our needs. They were empathetic and bent over backwards to make us feel included without making us single ourselves out. Today, although the Walt Disney Company touts five keys that include inclusivity, the company is pushing most disabled people aside like outcasts. They have recently changed their Disability Access Service to only include limited developmental disabilities (autism mainly). Those with other disabilities are being asked to separate from their families/caregivers, purchase their accommodation in the form of Lightning Lanes, or wait in line until their disability poses a problem (many times in the form of a medical emergency). The Cast Members and Medical Team on these interviews for the service are acting cold, rude and downright discriminatory. Many are suggesting guest wear adult diapers, leave young children to wait in line for them, and worse. These calls are causing extremely stressing events among disabled people. They are forced to recount information and occurrences that they rarely talk to their own doctors about, yet are forced to tell all to an hourly employee. It is shameful. The company is not inclusive. It is nothing but pandering. And all due to complaints by guests who purchased Genie +. These guests felt that their small amount of money put them on a pedestal in which they were upset that they had to wait in a line. Instead of fixing their broken express system, Disney Parks chose to push out the disabled community…those who need the most help and compassion! It IS Disability Pride Month, but Disney does not deserve the right to pretend to celebrate the historic passing of the ADA!

I was so proud to nominate Rachel Johnson, M.A. to be featured for Disability Pride Month this month! It's not easy being openly disabled at work or advocating for change, but Rachel stands up for our community every day and has helped us make our culture, content, and community at ESPN better. We're still a long way from perfect, but I am incredibly honored to advocate for change alongside Rachel and the rest of our business employee resource group! Thank you for all you do Rachel!

What happened to the one awesome "short" about a kid who's mother got him a dog with a similar situation?