[nagdu] Class Action Plaintiffs Allege Disney Parks and Resorts Discriminates Against Visually Impaired
cheryl echevarria
cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com
Fri Jul 15 01:37:01 UTC 2011
um I am in this lawsuit myself. Not with those attorneys though I was there in 2009 when everyone was in Detroit that year, Maxx was staying at GDF, and I had used my cane, I actually had employees walk into me, and I also had issues with there website not being accessible. The travel agent website, has a lot of flash media that isn't accessible at all.
That is our training website and the portal that travel professionals use to book clients for disney.
It was nice that they were at our National Convention to help salute our troops and start the NFB Convention.
There were a few people from California as we well, who were at the character meals and couldn't take pictures with Mickey or goofy or other characters with there dogs. I didn't have this issue when we went to the park in 2010 we got pictures there, but there is something in there handbooks that services animals with there handlers cannot get anywhere close to the characters.
I had actually wrote to Guests services back in 2009 because of where I was staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge the room numbers and elevators weren't brailled, I don't know if that fixed that yet or not.
But my issues are not the same as the others involved.
Leading the Way in Independent Travel!
Cheryl Echevarria
http://www.echevarriatravel.com<http://www.echevarriatravel.com/>
631-456-5394
reservations at echevarriatravel.com<mailto:reservations at echevarriatravel.com>
Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10
Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Absolute Cruise & Travel, Inc.
----- Original Message -----
From: Jewel<mailto:herekittykat2 at gmail.com>
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users<mailto:nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 7:34 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Class Action Plaintiffs Allege Disney Parks and Resorts Discriminates Against Visually Impaired
I'm scrsure, there's not Braille for everything...where is there? But
I had no problem in the parks with my legally blind boyfriend (I am
almost totally blind myself). Cast members helped us to the right
line, helped us figure out food service lines, gave us a full menu via
voice (even when there was a long line behind us) and in general were
really great. I don't understand all of this lawsuit and I don't
believe it is totally correct. I am wondering why these three were
treated differently than jmy boyfriend and I were, because man we had
an awesome time and all of the cast members were very helpful and
patient with our needs. I used their new audio description service and
it was very awesome...
I'd like to hear more about this, because really I don't see wherre
the problem is other than the lack of places for guide dogs to go...
~Jewelatching my head here...
On 7/14/11, Tami Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net<mailto:tamara.8024 at comcast.net>> wrote:
> Huh. Wow. I am glad to hear that Disney is being held to account and
> that these issues are being addressed. But...
>
> Here's what I'm starting to wonder: Why, at this stage in the game, are
> there no monetary damages or even penalties assessed in cases like
> these? I understand why this was the practice during the early years of
> the ADA and the other laws that protect us and that grant us the access
> we need to live as full citizens with the independence and freedoms
> others take for granted. However... It's been 20 years. Businesses have
> had plenty of time to learn the law, to upgrade their facilities, to do
> all those things they are required by law to do so that we can spend our
> money enjoying the services and products they provide just like
> everybody else. But according to the report of this single case, as well
> as reports of others and experiences elsewhere, they just haven't
> bothered. Because they clearly don't have the incentive to obey the
> law, instead requiring three blind women to take time and energy and
> probably a fair amount of expense to sue them in order to have a court
> tell them to do what they should and could have done in the first
> place.
>
> I dunno. I'm new enough to blindness and learning how to face my own
> smaller instances on a personal level, as well as to the movement and
> the finer details of that history underlying the grand bursh stokes I've
> observed in passing on the service that I am still developing in my
> personal philosophy about it all. Seing the surface of the work so many
> others have been doing all these years so that I could have my
> expectations crashed by realizing how much of what is on paper has
> nothing to do with with the reality caused me a lot of shocks at first.
> And they get away with all of this, do they? Still??? Now, I am over
> feeling surprised, just sort of weary and jaded, learning how to pick my
> battles and learning from the battles of others. Well, recovering from
> what passes for VR here in the great state of Oregon has pretty much
> *been* my battle. As I continue that recovery of layer after layer of
> what used to be my life, blidn and all, I can finally start developing a
> true strategic plan for how, where and when I can do my part to prevent
> what happened to me from happening to others and to deal effectively
> with the issues I will begin to face again as I move about more in the
> world. So I'm doing a lot of cogitating about it all. And thinking that
> including monetary damages when if comes to time to go to court is, by
> now, a more effective plan than simply asking whoever it was who was
> breaking the law to simply stop doing that. Hm...
>
> Just my thoughts. /smile/
>
> Tami
>
> On Thu, 2011-07-14 at 09:08 -0400, Ginger Kutsch wrote:
>> Class Action Plaintiffs Allege Disney Parks and Resorts Discriminates
>> Against Visually Impaired
>>
>> Orman Kimbrough, Jr.Attorney
>>
>> (866) 735-1102 Ext 343Posted by Orman Kimbrough, Jr.July 13, 2011
>>
>> URL:
>> http://orlando.injuryboard.com/miscellaneous/class-action-plaintiffs-allege<http://orlando.injuryboard.com/miscellaneous/class-action-plaintiffs-allege>-
>> disney-parks-and-resorts-discriminates-against-visually-impaired-.aspx?googl
>> eid=291998
>>
>>
>>
>> A federal judge Dolly Gee has certified a class action lawsuit against
>> Disney Parks and Resorts on behalf of plaintiffs Cari Shields, Amber Boggs
>> and Teresa Stockton who claimed Disney discriminated against visually
>> impaired guests. The lawsuit against Disney and its many theme parks does
>> not seek monetary rewards, but was broken down into ten different classes
>> in
>> order to identify ten different issues that would have to be accepted as
>> widely viewed complaints against those who are visually impaired and
>> toured
>> Disney theme parks such as Disney's MGM Studios. The Court reviewed
>> complaints made in order to justify the requirement that enough guests
>> have
>> had the same experiences as the plaintiffs.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The plaintiffs identified ten different classes as sources of issues for
>> the
>> legally blind named in the class action suit against Disney. The Court
>> ultimately found five to withstand all the requirements to be able to more
>> forward with.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The plaintiffs alleged there is lack of Braille, large-print or other
>> alternative signs, menus, maps and theme park schedules to be found around
>> various Disney resorts. The plaintiffs have further alleged that Disney
>> cast
>> members have refused to read menus to them.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Disney argued that its park had designated areas for service animals to
>> defecate within the park, but the Court sided with the plaintiffs on the
>> inability to locate area for service animals to defecate. One plaintiff
>> recalled being told by a Disney cast member that she must take her service
>> dog to the kennel located at the front of the park, while another guest
>> noted that the spot designated for service animals was extremely remote.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The Courts agreed with the plaintiffs' allegations that Disney Parks
>> refuses
>> to offer cast members to assist visually impaired guests inside the park,
>> and that they must bring someone with them and pay full price of
>> admission.
>> Disney had argued that those assisting visually impaired should be paid
>> medical personnel and not friends or family that would otherwise enjoy
>> amenities of the theme parks.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The plaintiffs alleged discrimination against the visually impaired
>> because
>> some guests have been denied access to the handicap parade viewing areas,
>> simply because they were not confined to wheelchairs.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The Court also agreed that Disney websites are incompatible with screen
>> reading software that assists visually impaired. Flash on websites
>> automatically renders screen reading software unusable as there was no
>> alternative website compatible with those programs.
>>
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