Why wait in line?

[mechurchlady]

Is true that children with ADD or ADHD get GAC cards? I've heard somewhere that children that have ADD or ADHD that gives them extreme anxiety get GAC cards to bypass the line. Apparently the wait gives them anxiety and can cause meltdowns. If that is case I'm sorry your child has such issues, But you need to learn to wait in line. It is attention deficite disorder, not patience deficite disorder.
I 'm all for Suzy cheerleader with a broken leg in a DLR wheelchair and Obese Oliver in his ECV waiting in the GAC line. Especially due to the fact that it seems everyone who asks gets a pass and therefore the line is as long as stand by.
But I have seen parties totally bypass the line on the matterhorn. Totally. No wheelchair, no vet with an artificial limb. Are these the ADD guests?
In my opinion, they only people that should be allowed to bypass the line are the Make a Wish kids. They are visiting during a remission or on one of their better days. The day is short so get them what they want. Other than that the GAC sounds like the GAP at universal, anyone can get one.

I am obese Olivia. I can first of all tell you that you need to sit down with some miswired kids and learn what it is like to be miswired. My mother and I are both miswired and she probably is close to the spectrum. I can tell you that some things are impossible for her as is for them kids. It can take years of training and therapy to get them to wait in line 10 minutes. The kids can have claustrophobia or be overwhelmed by crowds.

For us the miswired people of the world it is not like an NT child who is a brat who screams and has hissy fits to get out of stuff because daddy spoils them. For us the miswired brained people we cannot always change and we cannot just magically get over our limitations.

Why is a group of healthy looking people in line? Did you check everyone to see if anyone had an artificial leg? Did you check for insulin pumps? Did you ask them why they were using the GAC? There are over a dozen disabilities I could list for you that are hidden and would qualify someone for a GAC including, blindness, artificial limbs, mental illness, mental retardation, menier's disease, autism, aspergers, cancer, and heart disease.

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

All kids are different, and some kids cannot wait in a regular line due to their issues- maybe they have an impairment that would cause them to emotionally melt down in a "normal" line, or maybe waiting in the heat could bring on a seizure. Sometimes there isn't an "official diagnoses" as the schools haven't completed their testing or are hesitant to make their findings "official" and just call the child learning disabled, ADD, or emotionally impaired. I know parents who never got any real diagnoses, and thir kids are in their 20's now. I never used a GAC card for my son with autism, but I wouldn't expect him to wait in such a long line,either, when he was little. For some kids and their families, it may be a once-in-a-childhood visit, so maybe the GAC card will make it a pleasant one. I agree that disabilities should not be made up, and even kids with them need to learn patience, but believe me,
those life skills can take years beyond what it takes a "normal" child to accomplish.

I don't think that anyone here would begrudge a pass to those kids that need one. For whatever reason. I think what is becoming a major irritant, is the knowledge that a lot of people are using the ADA law to get a pass without having to "prove" it in any way. So now, anyone using the pass is suspected of being a "cheat" It dosn't help that I have seen people on ECV's that don't know how to properly operate it (and run into people) thus increasing the suspecion that they only "need" an ECV at the parks so they don't have to walk. (even though they may NOT be able to walk any distance)

Its the perception that everyone is abusing the Privdlege of utilizing special passes and/or accomodtion. It dosn't help that other boards encourage the abuse. Some of the posters get quite militant in their ability to do whatever they want, regardless of lack of need for those accomodations.

Very sad that the sense of entitlement is at the expense of those that really need the help.

[Lasolimu]

My Mom gets an ECV when at the parks because she has really bad ankles that make it so she cannot walk the parks all day like she used to, some days are better then others, but she always needs one if we will be there a long time. She doesn't ride everything that the rest of the family will, and we don't use her ECV to bypass the line because we are perfectly capable of standing in it ourselves. I am pretty sure some people who see her in the parks think she is one of these cheaters because she will get out of it to walk short distances and they see her stand and walk just fine. My Dad has a bad knee as well, so sometimes they switch who is in the chair because both can walk a little with no problems, it is just when they are in the parks all day that they have problems.

[Mayonnaise]

I don't know that the Majority of ADDers need a GAC. Autistic kids I can understand, it's overwhelming and overstimulating for them. But most ADDers are generally higher functioning than that, and in this day and age keeping an ADDer sane in long lines is much easier. Most ADD kids are perfectly capable of hyper focusing on a hand held video game to avoid the boredom... and that's what it is boredom, on an excruciating, solitary confinement sort of level in just a few minutes without anything to occupy thier overclocked brain.

However if a child is too young, or lacks the coordination to operate a handheld game, or read a book, then you have a problem. Frustration like boredom comes far faster to ADDers, so you can't occupy a kid with a game he keeps loosing at 2 minutes in, or a book he has a hard time reading. It takes alot of hard work and understanding for a parent of an ADDer to occupy their child in a line without an aid (game, book etc), and some just don't have the skill and experience to do it. ADD is relatively new, so it's hard for some parents to understand they have to deal with them differently. They can't understand where the kid is coming from. These are the one's who's kids get to crying in lines and being truly miserable in Disney World (Which is the last thing that should happen to anyone at Disney World) and I think those are the ones going for the GACs, those and people playing the system... unfortunately it's hard to tell one from the other. There's really no way to tell.

Personaly I'd give the ADDers the benifit of the doubt as long as the kid is under 12... I'd be suspicious older than that. By that age they should already be learning to self occupy, even if it means playing video games in line, or playing "I went to the store" or "Eye Spy" with mom and dad. Sorry if it bugs the other people in line, but if that's what they need to do, that's what they need to do. If they truly haven't started to learn to self occupy by then, their prospects for future independence are not going to be good.

I say this as a young adult who's lived with ADD my whole life. As an adult of course I now have to take responsibility for occupying myself, and that's something you have to start learning younger. I almost never go anyplace without my Nintendo DS, my iPod, my Smartphone and an emergency snack, because I know if I don't have something to do when bored or eat when hungry it's not going to be pretty.

Of course... some things aren't perfect. You can't take any of those things into a meeting at work, so then I get into trouble for doodling in the margins of my notebook. It's disrespectful to whomever is talking. Apparently.

Unfortunately the people taking advantage of the ADA, for fake ADD GACs just like the parents shopping for fake ADD diagnosis to get their kids on ADD drugs, (which they then use/abuse to stay up far later than they should,) that give rise to the idea that ADD doesn't exist, because people meet and interact with the fakers and think everyone's faking. It's a prime choice for faking because of the amount of time an ADDer spends looking perfectly normal.

8^S

[BRWombat]

This could all be avoided if Disney would simply eliminate lines altogether and send everyone straight onto the ride.

I await my offer of employment from Disney as a Master Problem Solver.

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

This could all be avoided if Disney would simply eliminate lines altogether and send everyone straight onto the ride.

I await my offer of employment from Disney as a Master Problem Solver.

Unnnnnn, yeah.....okay....

that should solve the problem!!

The checks in the mail!

[Ms. Matterhorn]

this could all be avoided if disney would simply eliminate lines altogether and send everyone straight onto the ride.

I await my offer of employment from disney as a master problem solver.

Survivor WDW!

[felinefan]

The posts about ADD kids having a harder time standing in line brought back a memory. When I was a kid, one of my friends took me to her church for Vacation Bible School. I was sitting in the service looking around, and whenever a baby cried, the mother got up and went to the rear of the church, where stood a gentleman of short stature, who immediately calmed the baby down by smiling, tickling its chin, talking to it, etc.. Within a minute or two, mother and baby would be back in their pew. Maybe Disney could have people who are specially trained to work with special needs kids to work the lines, helping the parents keep their kids calm. Of course they would introduce themselves first, and ask permission, but it would give work experience for someone in that area of child psychology, etc.. The money could help pay for college, too.

[mechurchlady]

This could all be avoided if Disney would simply eliminate lines altogether and send everyone straight onto the ride.

I await my offer of employment from Disney as a Master Problem Solver.

Can you hire me as your secretary or assistant, please?

[Goofyernmost]

The posts about ADD kids having a harder time standing in line brought back a memory. When I was a kid, one of my friends took me to her church for Vacation Bible School. I was sitting in the service looking around, and whenever a baby cried, the mother got up and went to the rear of the church, where stood a gentleman of short stature, who immediately calmed the baby down by smiling, tickling its chin, talking to it, etc.. Within a minute or two, mother and baby would be back in their pew. Maybe Disney could have people who are specially trained to work with special needs kids to work the lines, helping the parents keep their kids calm. Of course they would introduce themselves first, and ask permission, but it would give work experience for someone in that area of child psychology, etc.. The money could help pay for college, too.

I respect your opinion, but I have one of my own. I'm tired of paying for everybody else's problems. When I was growing up, we didn't have ADD, we had overactive kids. There were no "special needs" people, what was effectively used back then was solid, no nonsense parenting.

Part of the problem with the world today is that everyone seems to think that we all must share in the responsibility of raising their children. I wasn't there for their creation, I sure as hell do not want to be responsible for their upbringing. Parents! You had them, you take care of them. If they are unruly, remove them from the cause. It is not our problem...it is yours. Teach them proper social behavior instead of giving them the notion that whatever they do will have a safety net...life isn't like that and they don't stay children forever. Rude awakenings are lying ahead unless you do your job and teach them what is acceptable and what isn't.