just back from disneyland with a dynavox user

[mommyandmore]

I just got back last night from Disneyland with my nephew (9 years old, cp uses wheelchair, non-verbal) and we had a great time.
My nephew, especially, had really magical experiences with all the characters. He uses a Dynavox to communicate and all the characters were SO patient and understanding and gave him tons of extra time to communicate. We went to a character dinner and at one point he had Goofy, Minnie and Pluto all hovered around his dynavox as he was typing away to them- I was literally in tears! I know we went back and forth on whether we were going to bring the dynavox to the park with us but I am so glad that we did- it's mounted on his wheelchair and we just swung it out of the way to transfer him onto rides- the CM's were very careful when they moved his chair around after we got on. He had several Disneyland pages that I made for him with general vocabulary plus a page of the rides (a good thing too because almost everyone's first question to him was "what's your favorite ride) plus a page with character names and some things he might want to say to them (hi, high five, can I have a hug, etc). While we were there I programmed some buttons with things he wanted to say a lot ( I have a new buzz lightyear toy, I saw Brer fox and he tried to eat my head, and I'm scared of fireworks were the most popular ones!) Also, I linked his emotions page to one of the park pages because he was going to that one a lot. We were cracking up because several times we passed teenage boys and they would say something like "cool, he can play computer games all the time!"
Anyways, maybe this will help someone else who is considering taking their AAC device to disney- I say go for it!

 

[shewelch]

Thanks for sharing! I have a wonderful gal that I work with (as a DD Case Manager) and her family thinks her dynavox is "too much trouble" at times... she needs an Aunt like you to program her pages- how wonderful!

 

[amycishere]

I am literally in tears after reading that story. I have CP as well but am able to speak. What a fantastic Aunt you are!!

 

[Forevryoung]

My hero! Programming a Dynavox product isn't always intuitive and I'm impressed that you took the time to learn how.

And yay for understanding that it isn't right to take away a person's ability to communicate just because it is too much "trouble".

I'm glad you guys had a great trip!

 

[MarieS]

What a great story! Thanks for sharing this! I am working on some low tech ideas ( thanks Kate!) for my boys for our next trip.

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for the report. That is great that you were able to program some really useful vocabulary for him!

My DD just got a new Vantage communication device (we are waiting to get the mount put onto her wheelchair right now). We are looking forward to taking it on our next WDW trip.
When DD had her Dynavox (which she no longer has), we added a computer lock to it and locked it to one of the frame pieces of the wheelchair. That way, when we left it, we didn't have to worry about someone removing it. For many devices, just figuring out how to get it off the mount would be enough to discourage stealing it.