Hello,

I am a student and I have been assigned to be part of a debate team to support the claim that deaf people should get in front of line at Disneyland. Can you please post your opinions and ideas why deaf people need to get in front of line.

Thank you

Ummmmmm, if a deaf person is in a wheelchair and it's a line that won't accomodate wheel chairs?

How does being deaf make you unable to stand in line?

Try as I might, I cannot think of a single reason why a deaf person would need a front of the line pass.

Losing cause.
Instead, find something damaging to say about your opponent.

Well first the former SAP that ended up being a FotL pass is no longer.

Secondly there isn't one reason that I can think of that a deaf or hoh person would need a FotL pass if their hearing was their only imparment.

I am in a wheelchair and I have never assumed that being in a wheelchair was a front of the line pass. With all the abuse they have had over the past with the SAPs, I understand they need to figure out how to stop people from using the system when they don't need it. To me, part of the disneyland experience is the standing in the lines. Some of the ques are the first part of the show. And with a wheelchair, sometimes you miss out on stuff like that.
I had seen in the past at Universal Studios, if you want a front of the line pass, you had to pay extra for that privalige. So many time I had said to myself and sometime out loud, that I would love to trade with someone who was using a wheelchair just to cut the lines so to speak. That they could have my legs and that I could have theirs.
The people I have met thru this message board have been nothing but nice to me and they have treated me like I wasn't even in the chair and I want to say a big thank you to you all.

Hello,

I am a student and I have been assigned to be part of a debate team to support the claim that deaf people should get in front of line at Disneyland. Can you please post your opinions and ideas why deaf people need to get in front of line.

Thank you
For precisely the same reason those with mobility issues should be given closed captioning devices, or attraction scripts.

Hello,

I am a student and I have been assigned to be part of a debate team to support the claim that deaf people should get in front of line at Disneyland. Can you please post your opinions and ideas why deaf people need to get in front of line.

Thank you

Jeff, are you just signing up for Mouspad to start a discussion which no one cares about. You are obviously, IMHO, trying to start a controversy. The whole GAC or whatever it is called now has been discussed at great lengths already.

Please take this nonsense somewhere else.

Thomas,

You are correct, I signed up on MousePad to start a controversial issue solely because I had an assignment for school. I was not happy to be selected on that side of the debate; however, I have to 'cope' with it and to try to find help from you fine people. Besides, if no one cared, then they wouldn't be posting anything.

I thank you for taking the time to post your opinions.

Also, I have found some other opinions which could maybe help you build upon.

Deaf people cannot hear the rules being told to them, and need interpreter services to work with them. Imagine a scenario with a multitude of deaf people attending Disneyland, which would be difficult for an interpreter to work with them unless they worked out a new method of broadcasting themselves to the whole line, which I assume is impossible to do currently because the lines are too long. Therefore, the interpreter has to work with them individually. I read somewhere that Disneyland workers do not have the time to work with people individually, unless they segregate them from others. This leads to my point, the basis of why deaf people need to get in front of the line as a group so the interpreter can provide services for them and to be able to communicate the rules, and information about the rides more effectively.

Now I ask you..Could that be a reason for a group of deaf people to get together to get in front of line to get their help as a group?

Thank you for your time and patience.

Thomas,

Can you please tell me what IMHO and GAC means, so I can find more information there. Thank you. I would really appreciate that.

Deaf people cannot hear the rules being told to them, and need interpreter services to work with them. <snip to>
Therefore, the interpreter has to work with them individually.

They don't automatically provide interpreter services in the form of human interpreters. They use electronic devices and written guides primarily. I think you're assuming a lot more use of interpreters than DLR actually uses. DLR doesn't explain the "rules" that specifically in general.

This leads to my point, the basis of why deaf people need to get in front of the line as a group so the interpreter can provide services for them and to be able to communicate the rules, and information about the rides more effectively.

That's what the Guide for Guests with Disabilities does. It's a written brochure anyone can pick up at City Hall.

Could that be a reason for a group of deaf people to get together to get in front of line to get their help as a group?

No.

Did you visit MousePlanet's Theme Park Access Guide (http://www.mouseplanet.com/tag/) on your way to MousePad? I sugges starting with the Getting Around Disneyland (http://www.mouseplanet.com/tag/around.htm) section.

Adrienne

You may be interested to know that there is 1 day a year that the Deaf community gathers at Disneyland. There are interperters on quite a few rides (Jungle Cruise among others). I'm not sure if it's a DL sponsered day or a day sponsered by the group that organizes it.

It's an awesome day to be there.

IMHO means in my humble opnion and GAC is guest assistance card. The GAC is a card issued to those with certain circumstances to be provided alternate (not faster) access to the rides. There is no reason for someone who is only deaf to have one of these cards.

All rides have graphics showing to remain seated and keep your hands, arms, feet and legs inside the vehicle at all times. There are no insturctions or rules persay, general common sense is required (though not always present).

All rides have graphics showing to remain seated and keep your hands, arms, feet and legs inside the vehicle at all times. There are no insturctions or rules persay, general common sense is required (though not always present).They also have written safety instructions.

Jeff, if you are interested in the services and accommodations for deaf visitors at WDW, click on the link in my signature and you will find a link to a description of all the services that are there, for your reference. There is also a (very slightly dated) description of the GAC that you can use to get an idea of what it is supposed to be about.

It is NOT NOT NOT a front-of-line pass. But some folks with deafness/HOH issues do get a GAC (or at least they used to) that informs the CMs of the need for setting up reflective captioning, or turning on closed captioning.

Jeff,


The subject is a touchy one primarily because the old SAP sytem was so abused in the past. I have a daughter who is hard of hearing and we were told by a cm on one of our past trips that she could obtain a pass due to her hearing loss. I told the cm that I didn't understand why she would qualify, and he replied that special needs kids have to put up with so much negative stuff in the real world, so they should be made to feel extra special at Disneyland. I said I appreciated the thought and intent, but just being at DL was pretty special, and it would be unfair to use her hearing impairment to skip in front of others. I have heard of entire groups getting passes due to one persons deafness, and I totally disagree with that.

What?! Huh?!

There is no GAC for hearing impaired guest. As posted above the best thing to do is to go to guest relations and get a guidebook for guest with disabilities because it will specifically point out on which attractions have CC or Reflective captioning. Also if you go to Guest relations the have scripts for attractions such as story book and remotes for attraction that has CC so that you can turn the CC on yourself. The GAC is only given to those guest who are a danger to themselves or others while in line or those that are terminally ill. A person that is hearing impaired is completely capable of standing in a line unless they have other disabilities that you are not mentioning. The ADA only requires that we give "equal access" to the attractions to those with disabilities. Not "special access"