I truly beleive after this last trip , that for parades , children with disabilites should have seperate viewing from adults. Most small children with disabilites need the comfort of a parent in view , especially 2,3, 4 and 5 etc year olds.. During Spectro we put our DD's chair up against the rope as we were ORDERED to do. Prior to this we had our other DD and DS sitting in Front of DD's chair not taking up ANY space from anyone.. TWO ladies in
ECV's pulled up on either side of DD's Chair .. That was fine.. but they parked the
ECVS then ran, yes, ran to get ice cream.. then proceeded to stand for 30 minutes in the back of the group until the parade started.. then sat in the ECV's , but what was worse, they refused to back up to allow the few other small children to sit in front.. sorry , there was no curb and these ECV's were high enough to allow smaller children to sit, heck ,even an adult could have sat in front without affecting the views. In the group there were 6 or 7 small children in chairs who needed the comfort of a parent next to or near their visual field and of course the siblings were separated. One child was even visibly upset that his mom could not sit next to him but rather had to stand behind him.. his chair was not high and the mom even offered to sit him on her lap and move the chair back.. but we were all told no the child HAD to stay in the chair to be up there .. 5-10 minutes before the parade we all nicely adjusted to accomondate this family who obviously needed to be by her child, our DD is only 4 and has a lot of fears so we too needed at least one of us to be near her. Most people were more than willing to find a workable solution for all and it was finally comfortable for everyone. So after all this , another ADULT in a chair (5 minutes to spectro) .. who came with 6 , yes 6 family memebers.. two adults, four kids.. the CM let them in and told us we ALL had to move again.. Of course most refused .. I moved back and over a little so she had room to park her chair next to us since no one moved .. she said she could see fine from back.. and she really could.. she also got up and carried a four year old back to sit on her lap.. she said she used the chair as she get's tired walking in the heat.. Again there were a lot of significantly disabled children, teens and adults being separated from their parties . The kicker.. she sent all 4 kids up front in the little space left.. TWO of them were 14-15 years old and very tall.. They pushed my two kids over.. and forced another mom to pull her child back and sit a child on her lap.. They then got rowdy . I pulled DD 's chair back a little.. told the CM that I was concerned for my DD's safety being alone up there and sat her on my lap in the spot.. when another ADULT in a chair said.. if we were not using a chair we should move.. Well I was pissed since again, this was a a fairly large adult in a disney ECV who also was walking around just fine until the parade started, who COULD have seen easily over my seated head and proceded to ask the CM for DD's parking spot.. I then put the chair behind.. and sat in front of it with DD on my lap . I told my other two kids to go in the back and stand near the fence.. they would be able to see still.. well this was not good enough for this man and he wheeled right up and pushed DD's chair with the ECV.. now I have the late lady in the chairs fours kids crowding me, and a man in an ECV pushing DD's chair which I HAD To have there or he would go and get the CM.. so finally the lady called two of her big kids back (they snuck back at the middle of the pardade and had feet hanging out of the rope.. almost on my lap, the parade people moved them back and they shoved us back.. this was not just exp. by us but also the other three kids in chairs next to us to... the lady next to us let my two small kids sit up with her, between the two of us and 4 kids, two on our laps we took up less space then two chairs..
I am so disgruntled about this.. Adults, who are MORE than able to see from slightly back over small chidlren, who are not significantly disabled that it would affect their ability to view a parade from a normal distance should be a little more respectful to small children or even teens who require a little more assistance, who require more medical care or parental care.. especially if you can RUN to get ice cream..
The disability parade viewing area's are too small and too crowded to provide the service they are designed too.. the CM's try hard to accomondate everyone but it is impossible.. we would have done better getting a regular spot along the parade route, problem is that we would not have been able to have DD's chair up front and then she could not see at all.. but we could not be too far from her chair incase of a bad seizure.. plus needed the ability to have some room to move incase she did have one.. like she had at epcot two nights prior..
At one parade, they had a MAW child sitting out of the sun until the parade started .. when we pulled in they told us that space was for him.. we had no problems with this AT ALL.. again a few minutes before , a family with an older lady in a chair pulled in an quickly went into that spot , despite us and others pointing to the boy and asking her to move she did not and we all reshuffled to make room for this child.. she too could have seen from a little bit back.. I am sorry but just because you are in a chair, ECV or have another medical need does not give you more importance than everyone else.. There was a lady who stood in the back with me and was mad because she was told to go in the back row with her family (two adults and three kids) had a GAC and felt she should have been given space for 5 of them in the front.. She had a stubbed toe, no chair, no crutches and proceeded to tell me how she just walked through all of the world showcase for the first time and was amazed how much walking it was and that her foot did not bother her too much.. but then proceeded to complain that she should have been given space up front to rest now and to see the show.. the wheelchairs were doubled up and almost touching side to side.. no one was able to stay with their groups excpet one companion.. a few of the chairs moved back to allow children to sit in front which was not asked of but offered nicely..
We did have a magical trip and had wonderful treatment for the most part from all Disney CM's .. I just felt that the small disability viewing areas and the CM's inability to control the area left alot to be desired.. but, what is more annoying is that even if you are disabled or are the parent of a disabled person the same rules about common sense should apply ... and sadly that was not the case with the exception of a few . One man said it best the last show we viewed and he has severe CP .. just because you are disabled, doesn't mean you are entitled to special FOL treatment, just entitiled to some accomondations to make your experience as good and comfortable as someone not disabled . He said this to the man in a chair next to him who had a broken ankle and would not move his family (wife and two kids) over so a few smaller kids could sit up in front. Needless to say the words were ignored....The wife could have seen quite well from the back where I stood with the other able parents and adults.. never in my life have I seen such ugly attitudes.. and sadly we did not even have it as bad as some other families did.. the rudeness of some people is just inexcusible..