A Disney guest got denied DAS and posted about it. Then hundreds of people showed up to tell her to stay home. That is the story.
Some background first.
Look, a few weeks ago, we covered the ableism accusations stacking up against Disney Parks, and the response told us everything. This is not a fringe complaint. Not close.
Disney added Inclusion as a fifth key to its Four Keys philosophy back in September 2020, formally saying belonging is central to the Disney experience instead of an afterthought. That meant something to guests who spent years fighting for better accessibility.
The stories coming out since the Disability Access Service overhaul do not match that at all.
We covered the Annual Passholder who spoke with four separate representatives after seven consecutive years of qualifying, and who felt judged the instant they saw her face on screen. We covered the cast member at Indiana Jones Adventure who mocked a guest with a cane after she was denied access to the accessible queue.
Not isolated incidents. Here is the latest.
What They Posted About DAS
Threads user vanderdyks did not clean it up.
“Fuck Disney's new DAS requirements. I cannot wait in line, I have always gotten DAS, and now I was denied and now I have NO IDEA what the fuck im supposed to do?” they wrote. “Because I cannot wait in lines like that. Apparently me heading towards an autistic meltdown when waiting in a crowded line for more than 45 minutes (mainly because I cant escape anywhere) is not reason enough for DAS.”
Then the part that took off.
“I was told, and I quote, DAS is now for ‘people with severe autism who can't speak,'” they wrote.
Nobody can verify what was said on that call. But if those words were used, that is a standard dramatically tighter than anything Disney has stated publicly, and it would knock out an enormous number of autistic guests whose needs genuinely cannot survive 45 minutes in a packed queue.
An account under the handle alantudyk replied, “I am so sorry that is bullshit.”
The Actually Useful Replies Regarding DAS
Some people tried to help.
“Lighting lane or you can ask for a return time and they will give you one. If you are one or two person they will let you in. Most 45 minute plus wait rides have single rider too,” wrote beowulfnacht.
All true. Requesting a return time at the attraction is the route plenty of guests take now, and single rider lines do exist on several big rides.
It is also the exact thing disabled guests have been complaining about since the overhaul. Asking at every single attraction means explaining your disability again and again, to a different cast member every time, for an entire day. What used to get handled once now hinges on whoever is standing at the entrance.
Then It Turned
Here is where the thread became the actual story.
A huge share of the replies just told her not to come.
“Do not go to Disney then,” wrote andreajmachlis.
“Then don't go,” wrote omgfleee.
“So just don't go, it's not like it's mandatory,” wrote me.c444.
“Don't go to Disneyland then,” wrote bigdaddylovestacos.
sara_elizabeth22 went further. “This is ridiculous. People take advantage of it and I'm glad they cut down. Buy a fast pass if you can't wait in line. Just because you have autisim doesn't mean we can't wait in line like the rest of us.”
And savannahmewmew responded with “Have you tried a xani.” Not advice. Just mocking somebody describing a medical need.
Plus this from cemeterybizness. “Well, everyone is on the spectrum, so we should all qualify, therefore, we all get the same line. Suck it up and move on.”
emcee5859 handled it. “No everyone is not on the spectrum & that's an extremely ableist thing to say.”
Why Any of This Matters
We flagged this pattern in the earlier piece, and this thread runs it live.
The debate inside fan communities carries genuinely ugly rhetoric about disability on a regular basis. People are questioning whether others are disabled enough. People argue that invisible disabilities do not count. People are telling anyone with real needs to just stay home.
That last one dominates, and it should not slide. Telling a disabled person to skip a place that markets itself as being for everyone is not neutral. It says accessibility is optional, and that a broken system is the fault of the people it fails instead of the company running it.
One Reply Worth Reading
Not all of it was hostile.
“I feel like the issue with things like this is that autism is genuinely such a huge spectrum and the medical field has only moved further and further away from categorizing need levels, which is great in a lot of cases, but absolutely does open up the field to abuse of the systems,” wrote alexinwonderlandd. “Shitty people ruin things for everyone else.”
Fair point about a real problem. The old DAS did get abused. Disney had reason to move.
The question is whether this was the right move or whether it just handed the cost to disabled guests.
technikclan had a whole different idea. “File a CEO complaint for discrimination.”
What Guests Keep Asking For
Documentation.
Universal Orlando Resort lets guests submit documented medical information of advance and receive accommodations based on it, not on a judgment call made over video chat.
The Passholder from our earlier coverage wanted exactly that, saying she did not mind proving her disability if it made her trip work. Loads of guests in these threads say the same.
Whether Disney goes that direction is unknown. Whether the current system keeps producing outcomes like this one is not a question.
It does.
