Consider-your-potatoes-mashed - Ouch

i think some of the least helpful medical advice is when you ask how you would know if what you're experiencing is [thing] and they say "you'd know it if you felt it." i guarantee i would not that's why i'm asking

Long post incoming…

Long story short I went to Disney and was denied accommodations which made my experience and my friends experience (who are also like me autistic or have a lot of sensory issues) a lot more difficult and quite frankly a bit miserable. I was given no explanation or anything as for why we were denied.

Anyway I’m annoyed so yeah. Feel free to share any opinions or ideas or experiences yall might have I want to read them.

Below the cut is a long explanation

Ok so I went to Disney world last week and I was denied the DAS pass and I really do not understand why. I am autistic and have a lot of sensory issues which make waiting in long lines physically extremely difficult. This honestly is a bit ironic because my friends and I had to wait 2 hours in a line to even talk to someone about the DAS pass. Thankfully I had gotten a wheel chair to help with my other disabilities and could exit the line when I needed to. When I finally got up to the cast member I was asked so many invasive and honestly condescending questions about how I’m impacted by my “issues” and what problems could arise for me in line only to be denied with no explanation other than “the wheelchair is enough” which it was not. It really felt like being told “you’re not disabled enough”. I just want to know why. Was it my presentation? Was it my eye contact (that I make compulsively but the way)? Was it that I could advocate for myself? Was it really the fucking wheelchair? I just don’t understand. When I was done I was so overwhelmed and on the verge of tears only to be told no.

At California adventure all of the rides are “wheelchair accessible” and some rides in regular Disney are too (even though some of those ramps are steep as fuck), so I could wait in line for those in the chair but because of my sensory issues I couldn’t so honestly I feel like I missed out on a lot.

Thankfully we were able to get return times at some rides in Disney (but not California adventure) because I was using a wheelchair. But that was a whole other issue. You’d have to go through the exit and some of the hallways were so fucking narrow that two chairs couldn’t fucking pass each other. And ramps were so god damn steep. Like yeah the ground was pretty flat and not steep outside the rides big fuck guys trying to get to so many of the rides was impossible without a friend to like run push me up a hill. Space mountain, a ride I got a return time for, was like this. My friends tried to get the return time while I waited at the bottom but the cast member said I had to come up to get it even though I was somewhere they could definitely see me and from where I could wave/whatever to prove I was with them. But no I had to get up the inaccessible hill instead.

I still had a good time and am so grateful to my friends, one of whom basically gave me a tour of all the architecture and history of the park and Disney which was super cool. I also really enjoyed the rides themselves. And every cast member I interacted with was nice about everything (accessibility services person was nice but it felt condescending).

The one big thing I did like about the park though was the shape and size of the seats on the rides. I could actually fit on them mostly comfortably. Which for me is rare. I’m a plus size person (especially in the thighs and stomach) so I typically have a hard time fitting on rides other places so that was a nice change.

I think imma stick to six flags and universal studios in the future since I can actually be accommodated there. Sure six flags is not the best in terms for mobility issue accessibility since it is rather steep in many parts but I personally can cope with that better and they have elevators.

I went on a short walk today to grab a drink from a coffee shop (driving felt like over kill since it’s like 3 ish blocks away granted with some decline/incline) and I wore my knee braces and I didn’t need my crutches to do it because of them. I’m so happy that I could do that today. Sure sometimes I need both my braces and crutches but the last few weeks I’ve been doing good with my braces and my cane occasionally! Also I feel like I look cute today so that makes me feel good too.

Also the pants I’m wearing today are from Halara (not sponsored lol I wish I was) and their so many of their wide leg “magic denim” or whatever it’s called pants that I have fit my braces under them so well and and make them barely noticeable which I like. I don’t mind my braces being visible but sometimes they make weird lines and stuff. Or when they’re showing they have a weird blue line on them (idk why honestly) so they can’t blend into black pants well but they can go under these well. My braces also fit really well over their leggings/tight joggers without moving which is awesome because as a certifiably sweaty guy my braces like to slide and those make them stay. Also just in general since my braces were custom made and molded to my legs they stay on SO much better than any other brace I’ve ever tried

Why do people think it's tragic when you use mobility aids? Can't you see that this is giving me freedom, that it's giving me my life back, that without it, I wouldn't be present? Let alone functional???

how can't you see this

it's giving me my life back.

Even when it's short term mobility aids like crutches for a broken bone, it's still giving freedom... it's allowing the bone to heal and for you to live as usual...

let alone people with chronic pain, paralysis, and long term injuries!

without them, I wouldn't be here!

how can't you see that is a good thing!?!? 😭😭

YES not all autistic people have the same symptoms

YES autism symptoms will not present the same way in everyone

YES sometimes different autistic people will have seemingly contradictory needs

NO none of this means that it's okay to act like one autistic person being able to do something means that all autistic people should be able to do it if they just tried harder

your autistic friend who eats vegetables just fine is not a weapon to use against autistic people who struggle with vegetables. your autistic sibling who can do small talk is not a weapon to use against autistic people who can't do small talk. your high empathy autism is not a weapon to use against low empathy autistics. etc etc. what happened to "if you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person"