Disney parks are implementing a new policy on “line jumping.” The so-called activity has been a way for people with disabilities to use a ride without waiting in long lines. Each ride at Disney’s theme park has a limited number of visitors it can handle each day. With so many people, the ability to serve everyone is dubious. Currently, visitors with disabilities get a “backdoor pass” to enter the ride, bypassing the long lines which usually accompany the more popular rides.

On October 9th, Disney will no longer allow such accommodations. Instead of keeping this amiable policy in place for the thousands of people to benefit from, Disney will inevitably be punishing those who need it because of the unscrupulous few who would rather proffer a disabled “tour guide”, and exploit the generous accommodations made by the parks.

Instead of going to the front of the line, People with Disabilities will be given a Disability Access Card (DAC) that will work like a Fast Pass (available to all park goers). This will require a person with disabilities to tell Guest Relations which attraction he or she wants to ride, and then will be given a “return time” to come back for the ride.

Certain types of disabilities, such as epilepsy or autism, do not always allow children to successfully wait in lines for long periods of time. According to an article in the AP, one mother stated she “takes her sons, ages 4 and 6, to Disneyland once a week. They have autism and can’t stand in lines longer than a few minutes before they start pushing other people.”

Disney officials say the abuse by some people, coupled with the growing number of visitors asking for special passes, makes the “backdoor” access problematic. Apparently, people who have money to spend on “renting” a person with a disability, to shorten their wait time, has created such a fraudulent scheme that the Disney corporation feel they have no choice but to disenfranchise people with disabilities to create a more fair system.

When did people with disabilities become such a nuisance? When did we decide that everyone in society needed to eat with the same fork and talk with the same accent? If some people are abusing a beneficent policy, why is the first reaction to strip that beneficence away? Is it because it was not really necessary, or that nobody will be terribly inconvenienced?

When companies decide to correct their policies at the expense of a person with a disability, the true worth of that person or community is injured. “Line skipping”, as it is referred to, is a derogatory way to explain a policy that allows a person with a disability the opportunity to enjoy something that many take for granted. Not to mention, calling it a “backdoor pass” harkens back to a time when some people were relegated to entering a home through the back door just to be included in society.

A petition started at MoveOn.org has received 20,000 names asking Disney to reconsider changing its policy. The advocacy group Autismspeaks has also spoken with Walt Disney company and urged parents to see how it unfolds. If this new policy goes into effect, the disability community can send a signal to Disney with their pocketbooks, by not returning. If that doesn’t work we can show them just how much of a “nuisance” we can be in long line. Let’s make our voices heard before the magic fades.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/09/23/5187372/disney-changing-line-jumping-program.html#storylink=cpy