Infant with cerebral palsy...Flight and theme park questions......

[CaptainBritain]

Hi all, We are travelling to Orlando later this year with my children . The youngest who will be nearly 2 when we fly unfortunately has cerebral palsy. We are flying with Virgin and we've never travelled with them before. Is there anything I should be communicating to them or anything they can offer during the flights outward and inbound. Also if anyone has any advice regarding the theme parks in and around Orlando itself regarding pushchairs/wheelchair access and advantages/disadvantages of both then please don't hesititate to reply to this also. Are there queue's in the various parks for example for disabled people/children etc??
We are pretty much doing the works while we are visiting including:
The Disneys parks, both Universal parks, Discovery Cove, Aquatica and Sea World. We'd also like to visit the Florida mall too so any help, advice or anything that should be pointed out to us would be greatly appreciated!

Many regards in advance,

Mark.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Hi Mark and to both DisBoards and disABILITIES!

If you click on where it says "disABILTIES" at the top of this page it will take you to the Index. One of the top items is the "disABILTIES FAQ" which will gives lots of useful information.

It is very comprehensive and may seem a bit intimidation. Of course you should realize that it is written in American English and not British; so some of the terms may be a bit unusual for you.

Or, if you want an easier route, click on the link in my signature.

I would think that communicating with the airline probably should be closer to the trip date.

Once you've had a chance to look at the FAQs you may want to ask more specific questions. One thing that might help is information about the number of people travelling as well as the approximate ages; there can be a lot of different suggestions based on the various children's age.

And will you be staying on WDW or in a villa, having a hire car, what kind of tickets, etc.

 

[SueM in MN]

I don't have time to write much tonight - it's almost 11 pm

But, my youngest DD has cerebral palsy. Her first trip was when she was 11 months old and we did not know she had any disabilities at that point. She was diagnosed at 18 months. Her next trip to WDW was when she was almost 3.

My biggest piece of advice would be that a small child with cerebral palsy has very much in common with a child of the same age who does not have cerebral palsy.

Besides what Cheshire Figment wrote, some things that would help us to give advice would be:
- what kind of CP does he have; is he spastic or hypotonic?
- does he have a feeding tube or any special feeding needs?
- does he have any impairments (that you are aware of) in vision or hearing?
- does he have a startle reflex - is there anything special that triggers it?
- does he have any problems with loud music/noises?
- what type of equipment will you be traveling (wheelchair, special seating)?
- what type of wheelchair/special pushchair does he have?
- are there things you are aware of that he likes or doesn't like?

Hope you have a great trip and don't hesitate to ask any questions you think of.