Disney
Hit With Another Autistic Kids Lawsuit Over Theme Parks
Sad The Happiest Place on Earth Can't work this out. Nick at Disneyland. in 2011 |
Before you read the news story below...I just want to say; it seems to me this is not a battle worth fighting, for anyone. Families are unhappy, advocacy rights groups outraged, children are disappointed and I can't see Disney's upside to it's current policies. Please wake up Disney decision makers... this battle does nothing for your "Happiest Place on Earth Brand". It flies in the face off all that the Disney name means to families, including mine. No matter how "Right" your position is, or you believe your position to be, children with disabilities are the underdog, if not the victim here.
It beg's the question.."What's more harmful to Disney having your brand constantly in the news with these negative stories - which is like watching Disney's positive image being nibbled to death by ducks - or finding a solution that makes families and disability organizations happy and bumps up your image in the process"?
I also wonder if a solution would have been cheaper than the legal fees Disney must have racked up by now, and the battle is not over. That said, here's my plea to Disney. Please work it out! Let's free up our courts and bring the world's attention back to all things amazing about the Disney Brand and it's parks!!!!
Please!
Thanks...another mom
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Disney Hit With Another Autistic Kids Lawsuit
DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD
With legal action already underway in Florida for violations of
the Americans With Disabilities Act, today saw Walt Disney Parks and Resorts sued
in Los Angeles Superior Court by more than a dozen families with autistic
children. Like the lawsuits on the other side of the country, Tuesday’s filing
in Disneyland’s home state has to do with the program the House of Mouse
introduced at its theme parks a year and a half ago for individuals with
disabilities and cognitive conditions like autism. A re-filing of sorts of
California-specific claims dismissed by a judge last year in the Sunshine
State, the 140-claim, jury trial-demanding lawsuit (read it here) seeks
wide-ranging but unspecified damages of “no less than $4,000” on multiple
occasions and relief for violations of the Golden State’s Unruh Civil Rights
Act and common law. It also leaves what is now a growing legal stain
on highly image-sensitive Disney.
“The
systems, policies and procedures associated with the Disability Access Service
which Disney rolled out in October of 2013 were certain to create
discrimination against Plaintiffs, and it was obvious that the community of
persons with cognitive impairments would be harmed by the DAS,” says the
425-page filing, citing allegations that the company axed the long-standing
Guest Assistance Card program because it cut into their tour guide revenue
stream not because of potential abuse of the system. “Overtly discriminating
against Plaintiffs and others like them until persons with autism and other
developmental disorders simply no longer visit Disney’s theme parks will likely
end any potential disruption of the ‘magical’ Disney experience enjoyed by
Disney’s non-disabled guests,” it adds.
“A.S.T. is incapable of understanding the concept of time, and
thus cannot comprehend visiting an attraction in... Today’s
extensive complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief and damages brings
the number of families in court across America against Disney over the DAS to
58. “The DAS remains a horrible device through which Disney creates the
appearance of offering an accommodation to autism families, but through which
it really offers, at most, nothing,” said Andy Dogali, the attorney for both
today’s plaintiffs and those in Florida. In many ways a consequence of the breakup last fall of the sprawling initial
complaint filed back in April 2014, a number of the families in
today’s complaint detail the same “meltdown” experiences their children have
had at Disney theme parks since the new system went into effect in late 2013.
“A.S.T.
is incapable of understanding the concept of time, and thus cannot
comprehend visiting an attraction in the present only to be told it cannot
be experienced until sometime in the future,” says Tuesday’s filing of one such
teen with autism. “As such, the new DAS creates avoidable stressors for A.S.T.,
constantly escalating his stimming patterns toward meltdowns. Since Disney’s
implementation of the new DAS, A.S.T. has experienced many meltdowns at the
Disney Parks.” Those self-described meltdowns have been met by indifference or
outright hostility by formerly helpful Disney employees, the complaint notes.
The behavior commonly has led to the families having to leave the park and
hence cut very short what was expected to be a rare but pleasurable experience
for their younger members.
Not that
the complaint doesn’t also see a lot of good in Disney — or at least
its content and merchandise.
“Perhaps ironically, Disney’s Magic often
plays a role in the development of young persons with autism,” says the new
filing. Parents, special education teachers, speech pathologists and other
professionals who interact with autistic children on a regular basis often use
Disney’s adorable and highly recognizable characters, cartoons, stories, toys,
and movies to assist in opening autistic children to the world around them.
Disney becomes a driving force in the lives of these children, and can become
the only part of their lives that generates visible signs of fun and
exuberance.”
As with
the previous cases, Dogali of Tampa, FL, and Hermosa Beach’s Eugene Feldman are
representing the plaintiffs.
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