CP and having a disability. Question.

fostrmom2mny

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 19, 2000
I am a foster mom to a young lady who has always dreamed of working with Disney. She has intelectual disabilities, yet with hard work and tutors, she is enrolled in a local college here in OK. She doesn't take full time classes, as that is too demanding on her, but she takes approx. 8 hrs of credits per semester. I give you all this info to ask if any of you have ever known a student in the CP who have actually made it to the experiance this wonderful program?

PS. She is a Global Messenger for Oklahoma Specail Olympics and is quite good at uncomplicated sales. (Truthfully, people buy or donate because of her insistance :rolleyes1)

Thanks for any input.
 
I worked with both regular CM's and CP's with disabilities.

It really depends on if she's capable of living on her own since that's a major componet. Also if she's able to handle the full-time hours Disney requires of the CP's. She'd be working on average 30 hours a week, probably 5 days a week.
I think the major issue would be how well she can handle the stress of being down there on her own and working and living with other people.
Someone else may know more about whether Disney makes any special accomodations for these situations. I did take a class with a girl who had some handicapps and I know they worked with her quite a bit in that area.
 
I have mild cerebral palsy - so mild that I didn't even tell Disney about it beforehand. Its noticable though and my area leaders very delicately asked if I needed any special accomodations (I worked at the Safaris - a driving role) I declined, because I drive in "real life" without them, but I was appreciative of their offer and tact.

One of my roommates was moderately deaf (and, I'm going to assume, also had a social disorder). She must have informed them before she arrived, because she had special accomodations immediately (a special doorbell in the apartment, etc). She was in Merchandise. She was from Florida and went home a lot - she relied pretty heavily on her parents.

If you think that her disability might affect her ability to interact with guests, there are backstage roles that are offered to CPs. I knew a girl with mild Asperger's who worked in costuming backstage and interacted only with CMs while at work.
 

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