Adult with Disability not knowing how to walk in a crowd

[Luv Bunnies]

My DS, who will be 16 on Saturday, has Asperger's. He's very high-functioning and fully capable of walking around by himself. However, he tends to be very distractable at places like Disney parks. There's so much cool stuff to look at that he finds himself looking around instead of where he's going and he comes close to bumping into people. Since he doesn't like being touched by strangers, this becomes another issue!

Even at his age, he still likes to hold my hand when we're in crowded places. He doesn't do it at places like the mall, but he does at Disneyland. Usually, he just grabs hold of my finger or I hold his. I always joke that he's old enough now that I don't want anyone to think I'm a cougar with a young, handsome boyfriend!

For your brother-in-law, I think a wheelchair would be a good option. For times when he prefers to walk, have someone hold his hand or guide him by his arm. I bet he'll absolutely love a trip to WDW! You're a wonderful person for taking such good care of him.

 

[LisaBi]

Just another vote for the wheelchair. My son just turned 18 and has Down Syndrome. Aside from the issues with crowds, wandering off, etc. he absolutely does not have the stamina to walk the distances at the parks. We have always used a stroller as wheelchair, then a wheelchair as he grew. He loves it.

Last summer I took him to a local amusement park and did not get a chair. It's a fairly small park, I thought he could do it. Then as luck of bad scheduling would have it, we ended up at another local park a few days later. He couldn't walk at all - his feet are so oddly shaped, that all the walking at the first park caused horrible blisters. So one more reason I didn't even know about to have him use a chair for long distances.