DAS for visually impaired guest?

[ttintagel]

What access did they give you with the GAC that worked for you? That would be part of the conversation you need to be having, I would guess? Are the CMs just trained not to give that access because it was considered a GAC access?

The thing about the vision stamp on the GAC that made it useful is that it made almost all CM’s take my needs seriously. I suppose it was more of a psychological thing - they would see this official piece of paper that said “this person has special needs,” and they took that more seriously than they do an individual person just saying verbally, “I have special needs.”

My experience has been that, as others have noted, that the DAS as it exists today doesn’t provide much help for vision in most cases, and the help it does provide is probably less valuable than having a normal-sighted companion with good guiding skills. I just wish that there was some kind of consistent official program that DID assure that some kind of help would be provided, instead of leaving us to depend, as the saying goes, on the kindness of strangers.

I apologize to the OP if my contributions to this thread have come off more as venting than as actual advice. The best practical advice I can give is to be prepared to clearly and succinctly explain your needs at every attraction (I have probably made things harder for myself on more than one occasion by giving more information than was actually needed and confusing the CM.)

 

[Evita_W]

The thing about the vision stamp on the GAC that made it useful is that it made almost all CM’s take my needs seriously. I suppose it was more of a psychological thing - they would see this official piece of paper that said “this person has special needs,” and they took that more seriously than they do an individual person just saying verbally, “I have special needs.”

My experience has been that, as others have noted, that the DAS as it exists today doesn’t provide much help for vision in most cases, and the help it does provide is probably less valuable than having a normal-sighted companion with good guiding skills. I just wish that there was some kind of consistent official program that DID assure that some kind of help would be provided, instead of leaving us to depend, as the saying goes, on the kindness of strangers.

I apologize to the OP if my contributions to this thread have come off more as venting than as actual advice. The best practical advice I can give is to be prepared to clearly and succinctly explain your needs at every attraction (I have probably made things harder for myself on more than one occasion by giving more information than was actually needed and confusing the CM.)

One advice that I know worked for some when they first made the switch was to make a card they looked nice that simply said visually impaired and had a symbol similar to the visually impaired symbol from the GAC in it and people showed it to the CM, that way they had a simple starting point for a conversation in how to best assist. Obviously it was t anything official, it just made it easier for some people to communicate that way.

 

[paperwings]

Hi, what was the out come for the DAS? Also did your son in law experice any issues with the ques and his visual impairment?

Thanks