Will Disney go for Autism Accreditation?

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Does the autism accreditation address how lines are handled?

I think the place needs to have some type of system in place, which Disney already has (DAS). That is just one part of it.

The part Disney would have a hard time with is the requirements for "quiet spaces" in the parks.
 
[QUOTdasE="DLgal, post: 59049778, member: 461587"]I think the place needs to have some type of system in place, which Disney already has (DAS). That is just one part of it.

The part Disney would have a hard time with is the requirements for "quiet spaces" in the parks.[/QUOTE] DAS has always met my family's needs, but I know there was a lot of controversy about it when it first came out, especially for autistic kids who like to loop rides. Wasn' sure if that issue was addressed in the acreditation, if DAS would be enough. I don' see Disney backtracking on DAS, just wondered what effect that would have if they wanted the accreditation
 
This is mainly due to the fact the Spectrum has grown exponentially as neuroscience becomes more understood and its intrinsic links to brain chemistry and biology. While I'm sure your intentions were positive, your post is somewhat negative towards parents of special needs children with an accusation that it's a way for parents to admonish themselves from poor parenting or simply rowdy uncontrollable kids. Back in the day the diagnosis was 'Autism' or 'Aspergers' with very little in between. Now as cognitive science and neurology have advanced greatly, there are a myriad of other very real disorders in between. Hence why the diagnosis is now termed ASD with the emphasis on Spectrum. By sheer definition of the word, it includes a spectrum of disorders and thus a relative sliding scale of potential neurological disabilities.

I remember a decade or so ago this exact same statement was made with regards to children with ADD or ADHD.

As part of parenting, it should be required for all parents to first spend a day or two with a special needs child so they can see the wonders of how they see the world. It will certainly put a lot of things into perspective. Just remember, extinguishing someone else's candle doesn't make yours shine any brighter ;o)

I think schools and medical professions want to "diagnose" kids with disorders the don't have. Especially the schools. We had this issue with my oldest, she was going through a lazy faze where she just didn't want to study. They brought in counselors and the principle to have a meeting with us about her grades. I told them she was just being lazy, then they had the nerve to ask her if I was abusing her. They wanted to "test" her to show she had a disability. We said go ahead, turned out she has above average IQ and tested just fine. Like I said, lazy. After all of that they still wanted to classify her with a disability, because that way they could get more money from the government for the "special needs" kids. It bull crap. Yes there are plenty of kids that have Autism and are on the spectrum. But I think people are jumping the gun and diagnosing things that are not there and using it as an excuse for a child's bad behavior. My niece is autistic. She went from non verbal, non responsive to main stream school, going into 6th grade next year. She comes up to us and hugs us and starts conversations with us just like a typical kid. All because my sister from the beginning started treating her as a normal kid. She made her pay attention, punished her if she was misbehaving, has her do chores, etc. In essence retrained her brain. Also more importantly she fed her healthy food. You can really see a difference in her if she eats processed, high fat foods. She has very bad days when she eats those foods.
 
No parent WANTS their child to be autistic.

No, of course no parent wants their child to be autistic. But there are many that use the fact that the child does have autism to stop parenting. For example, there is no reason to allow a child to hit someone and just excuse it because the child has autism. That crazy lady that sued Disney after they changed the GAC to DAS said since her kid was not able to ride something over and over then she would allow him to hit others in his frustration. That is not the only example I have read over the years. Most people do the best they can.
 
A few of you have mentioned that you feel there aren't supports for adults on the higher end of the spectrum. Make sure you check out your state's Vocational Rehabilitation (Voc Rehab, VR) agency. As long as it impacts there ability to function on a job, they should qualify for some services to help with employment. PM me or respond here if you have any specific questions and I can try to address them.
 


I think schools and medical professions want to "diagnose" kids with disorders the don't have. Especially the schools. We had this issue with my oldest, she was going through a lazy faze where she just didn't want to study. They brought in counselors and the principle to have a meeting with us about her grades. I told them she was just being lazy, then they had the nerve to ask her if I was abusing her. They wanted to "test" her to show she had a disability. We said go ahead, turned out she has above average IQ and tested just fine. Like I said, lazy. After all of that they still wanted to classify her with a disability, because that way they could get more money from the government for the "special needs" kids. It bull crap. Yes there are plenty of kids that have Autism and are on the spectrum. But I think people are jumping the gun and diagnosing things that are not there and using it as an excuse for a child's bad behavior. My niece is autistic. She went from non verbal, non responsive to main stream school, going into 6th grade next year. She comes up to us and hugs us and starts conversations with us just like a typical kid. All because my sister from the beginning started treating her as a normal kid. She made her pay attention, punished her if she was misbehaving, has her do chores, etc. In essence retrained her brain. Also more importantly she fed her healthy food. You can really see a difference in her if she eats processed, high fat foods. She has very bad days when she eats those foods.

Oh wow! So your sister managed to “retrain” her kids brain by treating her normal and feeding her healthy....She should write a book so we parents of autistic kids can learn how to make our kids normal too. ‍:::Smacking my head:::
 
No, of course no parent wants their child to be autistic. But there are many that use the fact that the child does have autism to stop parenting. For example, there is no reason to allow a child to hit someone and just excuse it because the child has autism. That crazy lady that sued Disney after they changed the GAC to DAS said since her kid was not able to ride something over and over then she would allow him to hit others in his frustration. That is not the only example I have read over the years. Most people do the best they can.

Please just stop talking. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

Almost every autistic parent I know does far more parenting on a daily basis than the average neurotypical parent. I have two typical children and one with autism so I know both sides. It is far more work and much more difficult to manage the behavior of a child with autism. Since they don’t respond to social feedback as a rule, it makes it much more challenging for typical disciplinary measures to work. They also lack impulse control which also affects their ability to make the right choice in the first place. Many kids on the spectrum don’t put two and two together (if I hit my sister I go to time-out or get spanked or whatever) like an average child so their behavior is often inappropriate. So, autistic parents haven’t stopped parenting if you don’t see them react in the way that a typical parent would. They dont’ react like typical parents because it’s a complete waste of time to do so.
 
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I think schools and medical professions want to "diagnose" kids with disorders the don't have. Especially the schools. We had this issue with my oldest, she was going through a lazy faze where she just didn't want to study. They brought in counselors and the principle to have a meeting with us about her grades. I told them she was just being lazy, then they had the nerve to ask her if I was abusing her. They wanted to "test" her to show she had a disability. We said go ahead, turned out she has above average IQ and tested just fine. Like I said, lazy. After all of that they still wanted to classify her with a disability, because that way they could get more money from the government for the "special needs" kids. It bull crap. Yes there are plenty of kids that have Autism and are on the spectrum. But I think people are jumping the gun and diagnosing things that are not there and using it as an excuse for a child's bad behavior. My niece is autistic. She went from non verbal, non responsive to main stream school, going into 6th grade next year. She comes up to us and hugs us and starts conversations with us just like a typical kid. All because my sister from the beginning started treating her as a normal kid. She made her pay attention, punished her if she was misbehaving, has her do chores, etc. In essence retrained her brain. Also more importantly she fed her healthy food. You can really see a difference in her if she eats processed, high fat foods. She has very bad days when she eats those foods.

Oh, good God.

Schools do everything in their power to AVOID having to provide services. Budgets are stretched thin everywhere and the money for special education that comes from the federal government is a drop in the bucket compared to what it ACTUALLY costs to provide those services. My kids only get amazing services because we live in a very high income city where people and companies donate millions of dollars annually to a public school fund that makes up the difference in funding.

Kids can have high IQs and still have learning disorders. My son's IQ is 146 but he reads at a third grade level in 8th grade. IQ is one small measure of ability.

You cannot retirain the brain of an autistic person by simply treating them "like normal." Their brain is literally wired differently from birth...there are missing neural connections in areas and an over abundance of them in others. This persists throughout their lives. The brain of deceased autistic people have been studied extensively and there are actual structural differences. Your neice simply developed the skills she has because she has gotten older and like all children, developed new skills with time. My kids have developed all kinds of new skills as they have gotten older. You can expect your neice to keep improving as the years go by, as all autistic kids do. She will never stop being autistic though. She will use coping mechanisms to "pass" but that will eventually become harder and harder, so I hope she gets the message from her loved ones that she is different and that is okay.
 
Oh, good God.

Schools do everything in their power to AVOID having to provide services. Budgets are stretched thin everywhere and the money for special education that comes from the federal government is a drop in the bucket compared to what it ACTUALLY costs to provide those services. My kids only get amazing services because we live in a very high income city where people and companies donate millions of dollars annually to a public school fund that makes up the difference in funding.

Kids can have high IQs and still have learning disorders. My son's IQ is 146 but he reads at a third grade level in 8th grade. IQ is one small measure of ability.

You cannot retirain the brain of an autistic person by simply treating them "like normal." Their brain is literally wired differently from birth...there are missing neural connections in areas and an over abundance of them in others. This persists throughout their lives. The brain of deceased autistic people have been studied extensively and there are actual structural differences. Your neice simply developed the skills she has because she has gotten older and like all children, developed new skills with time. My kids have developed all kinds of new skills as they have gotten older. You can expect your neice to keep improving as the years go by, as all autistic kids do. She will never stop being autistic though. She will use coping mechanisms to "pass" but that will eventually become harder and harder, so I hope she gets the message from her loved ones that she is different and that is okay.

I agree with all of this except the last part - it doesn't have to become harder and harder to "pass". With proper help, it should become easier. If it is becoming harder, intervention is needed.
 
I agree with all of this except the last part - it doesn't have to become harder and harder to "pass". With proper help, it should become easier. If it is becoming harder, intervention is needed.

What I meant was, if a child is forced to "act normal" her whole life and deny her autistic identity (similar to kids who suppress being gay, transgender, etc) because her family isn't supportive of who she is, and thinks all she needs to do is "retrain her brain to act normal," it will eventually come crashing down in adulthood. She will have difficulties with relationships, holding down a job, and will think there is something "wrong" with her because things are so much more difficult than it seems to be for everyone else.

I have talked with and read a LOT of books and articles from autistic adults and this is a very common thread. It's relatively easy to pass as a child. It gets harder as social demands increase as you approach high school, college, and adulthood in general.

Being autistic means that there are things that WILL ALWAYS be challenging, no matter how much intervention you get. Everyone will have unique challenges but the correct thing to do is support the individual and give them the tools to overcome those challenges to the best of their ability, KNOWING why it is a challenge and that it is okay to have help, accommodations, etc.

The way that poster made it sound, the family seems to be in denial that this child has an actual condition requiring real interventions (not just healthy food and "treating her like she's normal" <--- to me, that part sounds like denial.) I hope I'm wrong about that.
 
Please just stop talking. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

Almost every autistic parent I know does far more parenting on a daily basis than the average neurotypical parent. I have two typical children and one with autism so I know both sides. It is far more work and much more difficult to manage the behavior of a child with autism. Since they don’t respond to social feedback as a rule, it makes it much more challenging for typical disciplinary measures to work. They also lack impulse control which also affects their ability to make the right choice in the first place. Many kids on the spectrum don’t put two and two together (if I hit my sister I go to time-out or get spanked or whatever) like an average child so their behavior is often inappropriate. So, autistic parents haven’t stopped parenting if you don’t see them react in the way that a typical parent would. They dont’ react like typical parents because it’s a complete waste of time to do so.

I'm sorry you think it is a "waste of time" to work with your child and try to teach them right from wrong. I know my sister and many others have had great success when they do work with their kids. They didn't just give up when it did not work the first few times. And it is a constant struggle daily for them.
 
Oh wow! So your sister managed to “retrain” her kids brain by treating her normal and feeding her healthy....She should write a book so we parents of autistic kids can learn how to make our kids normal too. ‍:::Smacking my head:::

She is not the only one. I do believe Jenny Mccarthy had the same issue with her autistic son. She is just one of the famous people who have been able to help their child, but certainly not the only one. The people that call her a quack are usually the ones that are unwilling or unable to try different methods.
 
Oh, good God.

Schools do everything in their power to AVOID having to provide services. Budgets are stretched thin everywhere and the money for special education that comes from the federal government is a drop in the bucket compared to what it ACTUALLY costs to provide those services. My kids only get amazing services because we live in a very high income city where people and companies donate millions of dollars annually to a public school fund that makes up the difference in funding.

Kids can have high IQs and still have learning disorders. My son's IQ is 146 but he reads at a third grade level in 8th grade. IQ is one small measure of ability.

You cannot retirain the brain of an autistic person by simply treating them "like normal." Their brain is literally wired differently from birth...there are missing neural connections in areas and an over abundance of them in others. This persists throughout their lives. The brain of deceased autistic people have been studied extensively and there are actual structural differences. Your neice simply developed the skills she has because she has gotten older and like all children, developed new skills with time. My kids have developed all kinds of new skills as they have gotten older. You can expect your neice to keep improving as the years go by, as all autistic kids do. She will never stop being autistic though. She will use coping mechanisms to "pass" but that will eventually become harder and harder, so I hope she gets the message from her loved ones that she is different and that is okay.

Of course you can still tell she is autistic. And working with her makes a huge difference as does diet. You can see the difference. Not all kids are the same, that is true. But that does not mean that there are ways to help autistic kids. They also did a study and found that autistic kids do not absorb nutrients like typical people do, so a healthy diet is doubly important to them. https://www.autism.com/treating_diets
 
What I meant was, if a child is forced to "act normal" her whole life and deny her autistic identity (similar to kids who suppress being gay, transgender, etc) because her family isn't supportive of who she is, and thinks all she needs to do is "retrain her brain to act normal," it will eventually come crashing down in adulthood. She will have difficulties with relationships, holding down a job, and will think there is something "wrong" with her because things are so much more difficult than it seems to be for everyone else.

I have talked with and read a LOT of books and articles from autistic adults and this is a very common thread. It's relatively easy to pass as a child. It gets harder as social demands increase as you approach high school, college, and adulthood in general.

Being autistic means that there are things that WILL ALWAYS be challenging, no matter how much intervention you get. Everyone will have unique challenges but the correct thing to do is support the individual and give them the tools to overcome those challenges to the best of their ability, KNOWING why it is a challenge and that it is okay to have help, accommodations, etc.

The way that poster made it sound, the family seems to be in denial that this child has an actual condition requiring real interventions (not just healthy food and "treating her like she's normal" <--- to me, that part sounds like denial.) I hope I'm wrong about that.

Of course we are not in denial of her autism. But not teaching kids, all kids what the real world is like is not helping them. Especially with special needs kids, everyone needs to work harder to be able to become a functioning adult. Just saying "oh, he's autistic" is not going to help them in the real world. The real world does not always accommodate you. That is setting your kid up for failure.
 
What I meant was, if a child is forced to "act normal" her whole life and deny her autistic identity (similar to kids who suppress being gay, transgender, etc) because her family isn't supportive of who she is, and thinks all she needs to do is "retrain her brain to act normal," it will eventually come crashing down in adulthood. She will have difficulties with relationships, holding down a job, and will think there is something "wrong" with her because things are so much more difficult than it seems to be for everyone else.

I have talked with and read a LOT of books and articles from autistic adults and this is a very common thread. It's relatively easy to pass as a child. It gets harder as social demands increase as you approach high school, college, and adulthood in general.

Being autistic means that there are things that WILL ALWAYS be challenging, no matter how much intervention you get. Everyone will have unique challenges but the correct thing to do is support the individual and give them the tools to overcome those challenges to the best of their ability, KNOWING why it is a challenge and that it is okay to have help, accommodations, etc.

The way that poster made it sound, the family seems to be in denial that this child has an actual condition requiring real interventions (not just healthy food and "treating her like she's normal" <--- to me, that part sounds like denial.) I hope I'm wrong about that.

With 16+ years in special education, I've seen the opposite happening - the older the student, the more able they are to use the tools given them to succeed. Also, the more mature their peers are, the more understanding they seem to be, and the more able they are to alter a social setting in order to include the student with social issues.

But if a student is not given the tools to deal with the anxiety and social issues that often come with ASD, then the adult world does come crashing down, as they are not prepared for it.
 
Back on track, please!

This thread topic is regarding theme park accreditation related to disabilities such as Sesame Place recently received.
 
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