We got back from Disney World last week and had a good time other than a couple of incidences involving the boats at OKW that go to DTD, and I am not sure how to handle it. I guess actually in retrospect, I should have addressed it there, but I still think that it is something that needs to be fixed.
Our first problem came the first night we tried to take the boat. We went to where the handicapped entrance is across the docks from wheee you get on the boat. There was my Mom and I waiting there like the signs say. They are posted to wait for assistance. I was using my manual chair. The boat comes in and there are 3 captains on this boat, one of which was training. They unload and then load all the ambulatory people. The whole time both my Mom and I are waving and trying to get one of the captains attention. All three never looked our way. They are now getting ready to pull out when my Mom jumps their ropes and goes across the docks. They never even noticed her until she hollered at them something about them not allowing the handicapped to ride, which we were there before any of them that were on the boat already. Only after my Mom confronting about not allowing us to ride, that the lead captain started jumping thru hoops to get us on. They had realized that they could be in trouble I guess if they left and didn't take us since none of them looked our way.
The next time came a few nights later. We came back to the resort on the boat, and there was a couple of guys with babies in strollers. Well when we docked the guys didn't know how to get their strollers up to the top without taking the babies out and lugging everything up the stairs. The captain stops them and tells them to follow us, since we knew where we were going (after that first night we made sure that didn't happen again by jumping the first ropes and waiting at the second set across the docks). The captain did not go with us. He stayed at the boat. This is when things get dangerous. My Mom goes to open the ropes and hold open the gate for the guys with the stroller. They get up just fine. Well I tried to wheel myself up the ramps to get to the sidewalk and realized halfway up it was steeper than I thought. Now I am trying unsuccessfully to keep from rolling back and into the water. I made the mistake of grabbing my wheels and bringing them to a halt while still inclined and I went over backwards in the chair and hit my head on the dock. Thankfully I was not hurt other than a bit of a headache that night. The part that gets me is the captain saw me go over and never came over or even asked if I was okay.
My question is: should I report these now if for nothing else than to bring it to their attention for training purposes and if so who should I contact and how? I just don't want these things to keep happening until someone gets really hurt. I have some ability to walk so I was able to get up and push the chair up past the gates, until Mom could take over and push me by her insistence.
Thank you for your help in advance.
Our first problem came the first night we tried to take the boat. We went to where the handicapped entrance is across the docks from wheee you get on the boat. There was my Mom and I waiting there like the signs say. They are posted to wait for assistance. I was using my manual chair. The boat comes in and there are 3 captains on this boat, one of which was training. They unload and then load all the ambulatory people. The whole time both my Mom and I are waving and trying to get one of the captains attention. All three never looked our way. They are now getting ready to pull out when my Mom jumps their ropes and goes across the docks. They never even noticed her until she hollered at them something about them not allowing the handicapped to ride, which we were there before any of them that were on the boat already. Only after my Mom confronting about not allowing us to ride, that the lead captain started jumping thru hoops to get us on. They had realized that they could be in trouble I guess if they left and didn't take us since none of them looked our way.
The next time came a few nights later. We came back to the resort on the boat, and there was a couple of guys with babies in strollers. Well when we docked the guys didn't know how to get their strollers up to the top without taking the babies out and lugging everything up the stairs. The captain stops them and tells them to follow us, since we knew where we were going (after that first night we made sure that didn't happen again by jumping the first ropes and waiting at the second set across the docks). The captain did not go with us. He stayed at the boat. This is when things get dangerous. My Mom goes to open the ropes and hold open the gate for the guys with the stroller. They get up just fine. Well I tried to wheel myself up the ramps to get to the sidewalk and realized halfway up it was steeper than I thought. Now I am trying unsuccessfully to keep from rolling back and into the water. I made the mistake of grabbing my wheels and bringing them to a halt while still inclined and I went over backwards in the chair and hit my head on the dock. Thankfully I was not hurt other than a bit of a headache that night. The part that gets me is the captain saw me go over and never came over or even asked if I was okay.
My question is: should I report these now if for nothing else than to bring it to their attention for training purposes and if so who should I contact and how? I just don't want these things to keep happening until someone gets really hurt. I have some ability to walk so I was able to get up and push the chair up past the gates, until Mom could take over and push me by her insistence.
Thank you for your help in advance.
. We usually send someone down the regular way to alert them that we have a w/c just in case they haven't seen us. We have also ignored the signs and lined up closer to the boat on occasion. I agree that the ramp is very steep.
