Im gonna Blame Pete

[pirateslifefourme]

Just listened to this weeks Podcast, loved the part about the Wheel Chair / ECV guests. Im like Pete in that i just cant take these morons making rude or snide remarks, enough is enough. Having been with my Elderly Grandmother who would NEVER have been able to enjoy a Disney park with me without an ECV, she could barely walk. Im glad to hear that so many people understand, well at least on the Dis they do. At the parks, Not so much. People are SO rude its unbelievable. I was a young boy (around 14) when i last went with my Grandmother, and i felt so bad for her, because people treated her like like she had the plague or something, and she Was Elderly. I cant imagine the looks that someone gets with a Hidden or not Obvious illness. My Grandma is now passed on, but i still feel the need to stick up for the others that need these chairs and ECV's. So the next time i hear these idiots making any type of rude comments or jokes about a wheelchair bound person, im gonna just punch them. thats right. A good ol Punch in the nose. Sometimes thats what a person needs to get the message. When i was a teen and a pain in the butt to society, thats what i needed to shape up. So watch out WDW, im coming to clean up ! Who's with me?!! by the way im just kidding. but i would really really like to sometimes, for my grandmas sake! Today though, you would get Sued and lose your house and God knows what else. Just remember folks, at the end of a LONG day at WDW, we are all tired. But try and think who has had a tougher day, you the able bodied person, or the person who is getting insulted all day by impatient morons who dont realize they REALLY do need a wheelchair. Do as Kevin said, be the Better person and just assume that they really do need the chair, and go about your day. Everyone wins that way....

 

[alebisi]

I think that if we are someone with a BRAIN and have the health to help someone we should do it... why make people's life more complicated? Anyways if you see someone with a wheelchair why ask yourself if she/he seems that she/he need it or not.... GET A LIFE, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. That is why I respect the podcast crew they can touch really sensitive arguments that are really close to us. So keep up the good work team, I totally agree.... if you see someone in a ECV or wheelchair...please! don't make his/her life more complicated and also to the one that is pushing the wheel chair, keep in mind that wheelchairs ARE NOT easy to use or handle... have some sensitivity.
I'm really proud on how many people got in touch with you Kevin with the wheelchair and ECV problem. I hope ... WE ... in our "virtual" world (the Dis) can make a change on some people's behavuoir.

 

[metalis4ever]

I quite enjoyed Pete's rant as I agree with him as well as the above posts 100%. I have seen this very thing happen before and have actually spoken up in defense for someone in an ECV attempting to board as quickly as humanly possible given her condition. It helps that I'm a loud mouth to begin with and am not afraid to use it (plus I;m 6'5 and wear "scary" metal shirts ) but this poor woman who looked beat from spending the whole day traveling around Epcot in the hot Florida sun all day was boarding and of course I started to hear the typical rumblings...So I turned around and said "What's the rush we're on vacation if you are that worried about getting from point A to Point B in a hurry there are plenty of cabs waiting to take your ignorant (expletive) back to your hotel, or how about this you have legs use them and think about this woman who can't" My wife was obviously extremely embarrassed and made me promise never to do that again I made the promise but honestly I think if confronted with a similar situation I would probably react in the same manner

People who think that someone is abusing the system because they don't look like they need an ECV or Wheelchair further proves that perception is not reality it's just another word for Ignorance.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

I quite enjoyed Pete's rant as I agree with him as well as the above posts 100%. I have seen this very thing happen before and have actually spoken up in defense for someone in an ECV attempting to board as quickly as humanly possible given her condition. It helps that I'm a loud mouth to begin with and am not afraid to use it (plus I;m 6'5 and wear "scary" metal shirts ) but this poor woman who looked beat from spending the whole day traveling around Epcot in the hot Florida sun all day was boarding and of course I started to hear the typical rumblings...So I turned around and said "What's the rush we're on vacation if you are that worried about getting from point A to Point B in a hurry there are plenty of cabs waiting to take your ignorant (expletive) back to your hotel, or how about this you have legs use them and think about this woman who can't" My wife was obviously extremely embarrassed and made me promise never to do that again I made the promise but honestly I think if confronted with a similar situation I would probably react in the same manner

People who think that someone is abusing the system because they don't look like they need an ECV or Wheelchair further proves that perception is not reality it's just another word for Ignorance.

Bravo for speaking up!

 

[Dian-er]

I, personally, haven't heard the nasty remarks, but have had to deal with the rudeness of people who walk in front of the w/c as you are pushing up a hill or ramp. You have to stop, hurting yourself in the process, then having lost your momentum, work twice as hard to get up the slope. We had both mothers, mine & Bob's, living with us from the time we moved down here. We often used the w/c for them (they didn't manage the ecv's well). The little slopes in the parks don't look very steep, but if you are pushing someone in a w/c, they seem like mountains. I have had people look right at us & step right in front of us. After a while, I stopped trying to avoid them & just kept going. I believe that most of them never did it to a w/c again after having the foot rests hit them in the back of the ankle (they are just the right height). Even a small person in a w/c can be a heavy load to push & after a few hours in the parks, you get tired doing so.
Bob had issues with people walking in from of Kaht Kam too. He, also, stopped trying to avoid them after a while. He did do some blogs about being handicapped in the parks when we first moved here. He didn't have the cart then. We learned by first hand experience for sure.
Thanks for speaking up. Diana

 

[aurorae]

In HS, we were trying to get out of one of the buildings after a ride, and there was quite a crowd trying to all go through a doorway. One gentleman there was in an electric cart. Lots of people were just going in front of him, and he was unable to get out the door because of the solid stream of people walking in front of him. I stopped, blocking folks behind me, and motioned for him to go ahead of me.

The look of gratitude and understanding (he realized that I was the only one in the crowd that understood what was going on) on his face more than made up for the 12 seconds that I expended being polite.

::cop:

 

[NDM#1]

Just listened to this weeks Podcast, loved the part about the Wheel Chair / ECV guests. Im like Pete in that i just cant take these morons making rude or snide remarks, enough is enough. Having been with my Elderly Grandmother who would NEVER have been able to enjoy a Disney park with me without an ECV, she could barely walk. Im glad to hear that so many people understand, well at least on the Dis they do. At the parks, Not so much. People are SO rude its unbelievable. I was a young boy (around 14) when i last went with my Grandmother, and i felt so bad for her, because people treated her like like she had the plague or something, and she Was Elderly. I cant imagine the looks that someone gets with a Hidden or not Obvious illness. My Grandma is now passed on, but i still feel the need to stick up for the others that need these chairs and ECV's. So the next time i hear these idiots making any type of rude comments or jokes about a wheelchair bound person, im gonna just punch them. thats right. A good ol Punch in the nose. Sometimes thats what a person needs to get the message. When i was a teen and a pain in the butt to society, thats what i needed to shape up. So watch out WDW, im coming to clean up ! Who's with me?!! by the way im just kidding. but i would really really like to sometimes, for my grandmas sake! Today though, you would get Sued and lose your house and God knows what else. Just remember folks, at the end of a LONG day at WDW, we are all tired. But try and think who has had a tougher day, you the able bodied person, or the person who is getting insulted all day by impatient morons who dont realize they REALLY do need a wheelchair. Do as Kevin said, be the Better person and just assume that they really do need the chair, and go about your day. Everyone wins that way....

I am so sorry that you had to deal with this type of nonsense. So awful! It's amazing how Disney can bring out the best in people but also sometimes the worst in people. Again, I just feel awful that you experienced this at Disney World. This just shouldn't happen anywhere, but especially not there.

 

[PlutoGirl1117]

Prior to my last two trips, I hadn't noticed any remarks, nor was I bothered by w-c's/ECV's.............I never questioned or even thought twice about why someone was using one.........not my business! (course at the end of a long day I wanted to beg for a ride to the bus!) Once and only once did a ecv bother me........and it wasn't questioning if the woman needed it or not, it was that she would NOT listen to the bus driver about how to get it on the bus. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's not an easy thing to do for all, I don't think I could, BUT! She would NOT listen to him at all! Another guest tried to help too, and she was ticked at him.

However! The last two trips, traveling with someone who's needed one, I've noticed a lot! The first trip, a friend who had knee problems, but kept putting off getting a w/c! I finally told her ENOUGH! You sit here, and your son and I will go get one! So we trekked back to the front of AK and got it. He looked at me and said, "GET IN!" So I did! OH MY!!! The LOOKS!! I can NOT believe the LOOKS I got!!! (and this was one of the reasons my friend didn't want to get one!!) I felt daggers at me!! Even she got a few. CRAZY!!

Our last trip, my step-father used an ecv. I knew not to pay attention to anyone but wow! When we would get to the busses, you could hear the sighs!! People were ticked! Once at AK (again!) there were three/four(??) of us in line with ecv's/w-c's and they had sent another bus and people CHEERED!!!

It's CRAZY!! Trust me, I would have gladly not had to use either one, on either trip, but you have to do what you have to do!!



And only one ride that I remember did you get the "perk" of not waiting in line.......The Great Movie Ride!! Yeah, I'm going to go thru the hassle and expense to cut line on TGMR! Give me a break!

 

[NDM#1]

Of us in line with ecv's/w-c's and they had sent another bus and people CHEERED!!!

That is so shameful! You think people would be embarrassed for even thinking mean thoughts, but to be so brash and cheer about people getting put on another bus . . . I am left speechless. That is just terrible! It makes me embarrassed to be the same species as these people.