Hello & welcome! Our family visited WDW for the 1st time last fall. DH is hearing impaired (profoundly deaf) but does lip-read & uses little to no sign language. The reflective captioning that is offered for many of the shows is terrific. An acrylic panel is given to the guest & it reflects the captions onto the panel right in front of you (it is small-approx 8-12" long & stands on a flexible stand). All you need to do is contact a CM to help out & this is available for lots of theatre type attractions thruout the parks.
Many of the TV monitors at rides & attractions are caption-ready--they have the "CC" symbol on them and can be activated by a remote control. Guest Services handles this for a $25 (same day) refundable deposit. There are also Assistive Listening Systems available for the same $25 (same day) refundable deposit. They receive an infra-red signal from transmitters in certain locations to amplify sound--some shows & atttractions utilize this as well & this is good for those with mild to moderate hearing loss.
There are written aids available for many of the shows along with flashlights & pens/paper if necessary. CM's can help with that as well.
Sign language interpreters are also available for live Theme Park shows (if requested at least 7 days ahead). They follow a schedule for the different parks--the info I have right now is:
MGM--Sundays, Wednesdays
MK--Mondays, Thursdays
Epcot--Tuesdays, Fridays
AK--Saturdays
You call (407) 827-5141 (TTY) to arrange for this & they send you a show schedule to bring with you. ALSO--you can request a special SL interpretation of any show where communication is integral to experiencing the show--free of charge & needs to be requested at least 2 weeks in advance.
The experience we had with the intrepreters was great, they were prompt, friendly & very good at their job. We only used them on 2 occasions, but they seemed great & asked if we needed them for anything other than what we requested. This was probably because we went during a slow season & there was not many requests for their services on those days. Overall the experience with them was great!
There were lots of TTY equipped telephones throughout each park. If you stay onsite, the hotels have a special package of equipment for the rooms including smoke detectors, clock, phone lights, door knockers & a TTY for the room.
Sorry to be so long--but in our experience this was one of the best vacations we took together BECAUSE of the assistance DH could receive. We live in an area with a large population of deaf & hearing impaired individuals (Rochester, NY) & found that Disney went above & beyond our expectations. Nothing is going to be perfect, but our experience was close. HTH!!!
Any other ?? just PM me!(private message me by clicking on the button "PM" below my post)
