Disney Parks with Vision & Hearing Impairment

[Zoë Wood]

Hey Everyone,

It's Zoë from The Dis here. I am hoping to enlist your help with some articles I am writing that include disabilities. In particular, vision or hearing impairment. I am hoping you can tell me about your experiences and how you have enjoyed the parks, what helps and hinders you, along with any tips you might have for people who will be coming in the future.

Thanks for your time.

 

[mamabunny]

Hey Everyone,

It's Zoë from The Dis here. I am hoping to enlist your help with some articles I am writing that include disabilities. In particular, vision or hearing impairment. I am hoping you can tell me about your experiences and how you have enjoyed the parks, what helps and hinders you, along with any tips you might have for people who will be coming in the future.

Thanks for your time.

Hi Zoë - I have read your articles before, it's nice to "meet" you here

Couple of thoughts for you, so you get the best information for your readers.

First, I would head up to the ol' magnifying glass in the upper right corner, and search for some previous posts here in this forum, using the keywords you might be most interested in. In those previous posts you will likely find the questions that were asked, and the real-world advice given by my friends here in our little corner of the DIS.

I would also stop and read this pinned post disABILITIES FAQs - temporary & permanent disabled, 1st trip, next trip, Wish trip that @SueM in MN keeps updated for us on the front page here. There's a wealth of info there that a lot of folks skip. In fact, any and all of the pinned posts have some really great, valuable information for the community, and our moderators are great about keeping the questions that are most important or topical pinned for easy access by everyone.

Once you have done those kind of things, if you have specific questions - for example, "How can a vision impaired person best experience a show like the Frozen sign-along at HS?" - then it might be easier for us to help you. Sometimes we have folks who come here with really broad questions, and it's always better for everyone if we have some information so that we can guide them in the best possible way. It's kind of like your best friend calling up and saying "Hey, how do I keep my shoes on my feet?" Well... it depends. Are you wearing flip-flops? Tennis shoes? High heels? We need a *little* detail

TTYL!

 

[pingviini]

I briefly discussed the problems I had with the handheld captioning and assistive listening device during my last trip and offered to answer questions about the devices (but no one had any).

If you don't find what you're looking for, I'm happy to talk more about the planning for visits for me and how I navigate the day.

This was the post I referenced: https://www.disboards.com/threads/turtle-talk-ll-or-early-access-to-seating.3911791/

 

[Karin1984]

I have only seen this in Tokyo, but at Guest Relations they have wooden models of ride vehicles. If you have a problem seeing, you can feel how it looks. And I believe there is a big park map in braille as well.

 

[pingviini]

It's great that I've found this thread as my wife has just been diagnosed with hearing loss and was recommended to wear hearing aids. She worries about our trip and I'm glad that I can share your info with her to calm her down. Thanks!

I encourage you to take advantage of the knowledge on these boards! I mainly read rather than post and have found so much helpful information. People have a wide variety of experiences and are happy to give tips/answer questions. Let her know that no question is a bad question!

 

[bambialways4ever]

I don't see any issue for people wearing hearing aids traveling around. They can live a normal life

Not true.

Most hearing aids are not waterproof, which can add many challenges to a trip, and in terms of a theme park, they may need to take them out on certain rides due to the risk of them falling out and if they can't hear during the ride they may need captioning devices or other accommodations.