Very few WDW services for the blind

[PrincessPoppy]

We're going in January with my dad who is almost completely blind (he can only see light and dark). He doesn't read Braille. We were going to get him a VIP tour but the CM I talked to today didn't think that would offer him the verbal descriptions we were looking for. He said the cassette tapes that you can rent offer descriptions of the attractions. I was under the impression that the tapes are along the lines of one or two lines explaining what the attractions are, not describing what goes on inside. He seemed to disagree. Does anyone know whether this is true?

I am a little disheartened that sight-impaired people seem to come up short in the special services areas. There doesn't appear to be much offered to the blind, even if you want to pay extra for it.

 

[lisapooh]

The reason that Disney may not have what is needed is that they don't know what is needed. Sometimes it takes someone who knows to explain exactly how they need accommodation. Teach them.

 

[SueM in MN]

I agree with lisapooh. I think that WDW doesn't really have an idea what is needed, so they offer something. If no one complains, they think they have met the need.
Here is what the official WDW website says about the audiotapes: "The Magic Kingdom Park has cassette tapes that give Guests a sense of direction and a brief description of the attractions. Audio cassettes and portable tape players are available at City Hall. A refundable $25 deposit is required (item must be returned on the same day for refund)."
No one has posted on this board to tell us what they thought of the tapes (or if they did, I don't remember reading it).
Just as a note of interest, DH and I took a trip without our kids to WDW in July. On the Kali River Rapids, the rest of the seats in our boat were filled with a party of about 5 young people including a man who was blind. One of his companions kept telling him that a big drop was just ahead when there wasn't one. Sometimes they would forget to tell him what they were seeing and then he would ask what was coming. I saw a little bit of how tiring it must be to either be describing things or listening for descriptions all day.

 

[LWQuestie]

Something that would be nice for WDW to implement would be DVS systems at the movie shows that are all over the place (i.e. Impressions de France, Canada, China, Lion King shows at MK and Epcot).

DVS is short for Descriptive Video Service. They started with videotapes of movies... adding a second audio track to the actual tape narrating the strictly visual things that are going on... stuff you would totally miss by not being able to watch it. The service has now been expanded to include movies in theatrical release.

http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/access/dvs/ for more info, and there's a sample there... a small clip of Lion King.

I'm going to call my mom and ask her about the tapes that they had at WDW.

 

[PrincessPoppy]

Thanks, all.

During my conversation with the CM I wondered if he could pass on a couple of suggestions, one of which was the descriptive narration. He didn't seem very interested in passing it on, so I guess a letter is in order.

Thanks for offering your Mom's input, Questie. I'd love to hear what she thought of the tapes and how descriptive they were.

 

[SueM in MN]

Our local Public TV station aired a show one night with the DVS system turned on. I had forgotten about it until I read this. It was pretty cool. I had read about it before and thought it might be very difficult to listen to the descriptive audio along with the regular audio and music from the film. It was really well done, though. They slipped the descriptions in at appropriate places during lulls in the regular audio.
I would think it would be pretty easy for WDW to include an extra audio track on a separate frequency that would be heard on a receiver worn by the person who is blind.
Safari Steve might be able to point us toward a person who you could email your suggestions to.

 

[LWQuestie]

Wanted to reply about the quality of the tapes. I asked my mom about them yesterday. She said that there is information on the tapes about where things are located in relation to each other, and descriptions of the attractions. There's more info on the tapes than is in the Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities. Highly recommended by her

 

[PrincessPoppy]

Thanks Questie. That's very helpful. I will make sure that my dad gets those tapes.