BroganMc
It's not the age, it's the mileage
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2005
OP, in truth your story just makes me very frustrated. I brought my mom to Disney several times when she was battling terminal cancer. We never thought to use a ECV, even after years of knowing I needed a wheelchair to get around. (I can't manage more than 20 feet distance due to RA.)
Her last trip to Disney was probably the most disheartening. Her cancer was very bad and she had a simple desire: breakfast with the grandkids at Grand Floridian and then a few rides at Magic Kingdom. We'd take the monorail to the park, then the train to Frontierland and she'd walk from there to FantasyLand for IASW. Then we'd amble over to Tomorrowland and catch Buzz before the 3pm parade on Main Street and she'd go home to rest.By the time she got to IASW she's was exhausted. We got her back to the resort but she never set foot in the parks again that trip. She passed away 4 months later.
To this day I regret that I hadn't known enough and let her pride issues keep me from getting her that ECV. I practically arm-twisted my dad into renting one the following year, ostensibly to keep up with my powerchair that can go 4x the normal old fellow's walking speed. He was unsure at first, but he as soon as he realized he didn't have to hunt for a seat everywhere or drag himself to bed every night with aching legs he was convinced. Since then he has had triple bypass surgery, prostate cancer and still can do Magic Kingdom until 4am, crisscrossing the park and doing things on a whim.
I confess I'm confused what you thought the GAC would do then. It is merely meant to identify needs and instruct ride CMs where to usher people. It used to be merely having a wheelchair became your identifying card. Now it's a mishmashed system with many assuming a flash of a "red card" acts as a VIP backstage pass. There are actually only a few places where you go backstage (really the exit area) and even then you'll end up standing around and waiting.
Society pities those in wheelchairs. It is very difficult for people to distance themselves from that bigotry and understand a wheelchair is merely another tool in the human repertoire. People can mow grass with a handmower, (the powerless push kind), yet we have a whole host of gas-powered lawn mowers, even ones you ride.
Growing up with JRA (that's juvenile rheumatoid arthritis) I was constantly under pressure from my doctors and parents not to "give up" and "keep moving". I was even told my use of a manual wheelchair to keep up with the kids at camp was "abusing a crutch" and "made me a failure". You try wrapping your mind around that when you're an impressionable 10 yo.
As a result I endured decades of pain and suffering, pushing myself to my stamina limits. I only went to college 3 days a week because I was bedridden the next day due to the pain. I never learned to drive because I doubted I could walk from the parking lot to the store. (Someone always went on a car run to pick me up at the curb.) And the whole time I was pushing myself I thought I was proving how successful I was at "beating my disease".
To put it simply, I was a stubborn idiot grossly mislead by society's misconceptions. The day I got my powerchair (5 years ago), I felt reborn. Miraculously I could go through a mall and actually pay attention to the sights around me rather than trip hazards and seats to rest. I had feared people would look down on me for having my powerchair (as I did to others), but instead I found I didn't care. I talked to people. I smiled at them, engaged them, said hello first. I became a much different person, one with far less pain and the freedom I had been searching for since childhood.
This sentiment is why you have probably been getting a lot of negativity toward your wife refusing the wheelchair or scooter. I realize it is all knew to you and for that I am truly heartbroken for you. I was lucky in that my disability appeared when I was 2, so it has just become part of my normal reality. For adults like you, it is an abrupt end to one life and beginning to another. There will be a painful adjustment period. The folks here are just trying to let you know that a life with medical needs is still a good life.
And I can tell you, having lived with disability for 30 years life is a lot better today than it was just a few decades ago. Advancements in technology, architecture, policy and science have ended the virtual slavery many of us lived under. Today I drive, have my own business, and travel extensively.
My guess is that what the CM meant is that the GAC acts as a visual marker to ride CMs akin to a wheelchair. When I approach a ride just my chair visible, I'm asked the usual "can you transfer" question which is meant to decide which line to put me in. If my dad parks his scooter and walks up, he's never asked that question. If one of us shows my GAC, the CM looks at it and directs us accordingly.
I wish your wife well on her new journey with MS. And I do hope her disappointment doesn't sour her from Disney. I know for me the feeling of magic and inspiration to dream I get when I'm here is like a shot of the best medicine ever. And I get that more from the parades and fireworks than any ride. It's why I keep coming back. I need my Disney dose of optimism to help propel me through the sometimes dreary everyday life at home.
Her last trip to Disney was probably the most disheartening. Her cancer was very bad and she had a simple desire: breakfast with the grandkids at Grand Floridian and then a few rides at Magic Kingdom. We'd take the monorail to the park, then the train to Frontierland and she'd walk from there to FantasyLand for IASW. Then we'd amble over to Tomorrowland and catch Buzz before the 3pm parade on Main Street and she'd go home to rest.By the time she got to IASW she's was exhausted. We got her back to the resort but she never set foot in the parks again that trip. She passed away 4 months later.
To this day I regret that I hadn't known enough and let her pride issues keep me from getting her that ECV. I practically arm-twisted my dad into renting one the following year, ostensibly to keep up with my powerchair that can go 4x the normal old fellow's walking speed. He was unsure at first, but he as soon as he realized he didn't have to hunt for a seat everywhere or drag himself to bed every night with aching legs he was convinced. Since then he has had triple bypass surgery, prostate cancer and still can do Magic Kingdom until 4am, crisscrossing the park and doing things on a whim.
Again I am going to state that we were not using the GAC as a way to get ahead of a line, or specialized treatment.
I confess I'm confused what you thought the GAC would do then. It is merely meant to identify needs and instruct ride CMs where to usher people. It used to be merely having a wheelchair became your identifying card. Now it's a mishmashed system with many assuming a flash of a "red card" acts as a VIP backstage pass. There are actually only a few places where you go backstage (really the exit area) and even then you'll end up standing around and waiting.
My wife has done the best she could since being diagnosed and adjusting to her new way of life, and I thought the GAC would be the easiest, instead of using a wheelchair/ecv away from home. I felt that would be something she would be more comfortable with being at home the first time. However for the most part, some of you have used this board as a way to question her nonuse of those things. I am sure for most of you it was a hard decision to come to the first time you used one of those devices. My wife wasn't comfortable with her first time with one of those devices being at a crowded park.
Society pities those in wheelchairs. It is very difficult for people to distance themselves from that bigotry and understand a wheelchair is merely another tool in the human repertoire. People can mow grass with a handmower, (the powerless push kind), yet we have a whole host of gas-powered lawn mowers, even ones you ride.
Growing up with JRA (that's juvenile rheumatoid arthritis) I was constantly under pressure from my doctors and parents not to "give up" and "keep moving". I was even told my use of a manual wheelchair to keep up with the kids at camp was "abusing a crutch" and "made me a failure". You try wrapping your mind around that when you're an impressionable 10 yo.
As a result I endured decades of pain and suffering, pushing myself to my stamina limits. I only went to college 3 days a week because I was bedridden the next day due to the pain. I never learned to drive because I doubted I could walk from the parking lot to the store. (Someone always went on a car run to pick me up at the curb.) And the whole time I was pushing myself I thought I was proving how successful I was at "beating my disease".
To put it simply, I was a stubborn idiot grossly mislead by society's misconceptions. The day I got my powerchair (5 years ago), I felt reborn. Miraculously I could go through a mall and actually pay attention to the sights around me rather than trip hazards and seats to rest. I had feared people would look down on me for having my powerchair (as I did to others), but instead I found I didn't care. I talked to people. I smiled at them, engaged them, said hello first. I became a much different person, one with far less pain and the freedom I had been searching for since childhood.
This sentiment is why you have probably been getting a lot of negativity toward your wife refusing the wheelchair or scooter. I realize it is all knew to you and for that I am truly heartbroken for you. I was lucky in that my disability appeared when I was 2, so it has just become part of my normal reality. For adults like you, it is an abrupt end to one life and beginning to another. There will be a painful adjustment period. The folks here are just trying to let you know that a life with medical needs is still a good life.
And I can tell you, having lived with disability for 30 years life is a lot better today than it was just a few decades ago. Advancements in technology, architecture, policy and science have ended the virtual slavery many of us lived under. Today I drive, have my own business, and travel extensively.
So by one of the Disney's own employee own admission the GAC is for those guests that don't want to use one of the devices. So guess we shouldn't have listened to that castmember?
My guess is that what the CM meant is that the GAC acts as a visual marker to ride CMs akin to a wheelchair. When I approach a ride just my chair visible, I'm asked the usual "can you transfer" question which is meant to decide which line to put me in. If my dad parks his scooter and walks up, he's never asked that question. If one of us shows my GAC, the CM looks at it and directs us accordingly.
I wish your wife well on her new journey with MS. And I do hope her disappointment doesn't sour her from Disney. I know for me the feeling of magic and inspiration to dream I get when I'm here is like a shot of the best medicine ever. And I get that more from the parades and fireworks than any ride. It's why I keep coming back. I need my Disney dose of optimism to help propel me through the sometimes dreary everyday life at home.