Are people just less tolerant of disability accessibility now ?

I have a little boy with ADHD. He is very sweet, but he absolutely cannot cope with queues. This is more so than the usual 5-year-old who does not like queuing. We recently took him to Legoland. We had fast passes (these are not easy to get by the way! You have to have a whole body of evidence to get an access pass to allow you to not have to queue.) we went on a Monday in termtime and it was great. But even on a 'quieter' day it would have been impossible if we had needed to queue for more than a few minutes for each ride.

This is not him getting something extra, it is enabling him to enjoy something NT children can.

Do I think the usual queues are ridiculous? Absolutely. If themeparks,.or zoos, or other places were encouraged to have lower numbers of people in attendance then the queues would be less. But profit and all that. Places were much nicer during COVID, when numbers were limited and tickets needed to be booked in advance. Less queuing for everyone. But also, less overall availability.

Yes!!!!!! 100000000% OP. I was just thinking this today.
However, conversely, I only ever get challenged about parking in disabled, by those approaching or post retirement age. Just my own experience though, it may not be across the board, but I've personally never ever been challenged by anyone my own age (40) or younger.
Tolerance & general compassion is def getting worse though, you're right there

As borne out by some comment on this thread, there is a possible perceived hierarchy of worthy disabilities or what they believe a person needs help with.
For example, it seems that many understand that a person with a leg amputation (to use the example above) and in a wheelchair would need a space on a bus but may not understand why they would need to go to the front of a queue at passport control and cannot queue along with everyone else.

I think a lot of the culture war, right-wing rhetoric about 'wokeness' has emboldened people to be selfish and bigoted. What was, and should be considered a reasonable accomodation, is now being framed as 'entitled' or 'snowflakey'.

It is nasty.

There are many situations where someone with a neurodiversity will be significantly less capable of waiting than someone with a physical disability. A wheelchair user might be sitting in the same chair all day and it makes very little difference to their physical well-being if they’re in a queue or in a restaurant. A person who might get huge benefit from the sensory experience of a ride might be unable to understand that they are going to do something unusual but that they have to stand and wait very still for a long time and if they did it would be emotionally and possibly physically harmful for them.

On the OP, I think people become especially intolerant at airports and on holiday. Or any time they’re doing something that is a bit special to them and cost money. They’d be nice when they’re doing their weekly shop and aren’t in a hurry, but when doing something they’ve paid for, their entitlement outweighs their kindness.

I think the massive massive increase in ND is partly to blame. It’s not just a tiny minority who are disabled so in the queue jumping example it feels like there are more people who qualify than don’t.

I think this is true plus there has been such a scarcity of resources I think it's created more of an every person for themselves mentality.

Yes I understand that and agree it's a good thing for where its actually needed. But the problem is these things start being used by people that don't need them and that's possibly where those without disabilities start losing empathy etc.
You start getting people with hearing loss getting queue jump passes and reserved sunloungers.
Accessible things should be based on need. Not JUST on the fact they have a disability. Not all disabilities require every adjustment. A person with autism does not need the wheelchair space on the bus etc. A person with hearing loss in one ear does not need to queue jump at a theme park.

@LadyKenya they did used to only be for those with complex disabilities. So I can see how the confusion has arisen.

It does not matter what you think, thank goodness. Maybe educate yourself on the reasons that people who are ND may require those concessions.

@TinklySnail Disney say if you use a wheelchair you can queue in your wheelchair. If you can not stand for long, they say you have to hire a wheelchair. Fast passes are only for those with neurodiversity or similar who struggle to queue for long. Obviously some people may use a wheelchair and be neurodiverse.

I have always thought disability passes at theme parks were for those with physical disabilities.
I don’t think those with ADHD/ND and no physical impairment need a pass to bypass the queue. Surely if you receive DLA for ND you would use that to buy fast passes?

@PaperSheet if you can not sit by the side of the pool, then a sun lounger may be the only way to access being outside.

But this is where it becomes a case of access and adjustments vs compensation.
I'm not denying disabled people have a much harder life in most aspects. But just because they have a harder life generally does that mean they should get a queue jump pass if they don't actually need to jump the queue?
(I realise queue jumps isn't the point of the thread but it's just the best way to ask the question)
If a holiday hotel was allowing disabled people to reserve sunloungers without asking for needs, should someone considered disabled due to having ADHD get reserved sunloungers for their entire family?

I agree that it’s got worse and I agree with PPs who say some people think adjustments for disabled people are some kind of unfair perk.
What those people refuse to understand is that these adjustments just remove part of the barriers that we face. Even with adjustments we are hugely disadvantaged and less able to take part in everyday life than they are.

Only envy a person’s accommodations if you are prepared to also take on their pain and struggles.

I bet the person who moved the disabled symbols on the reserved sun bed saw a ‘perk’ - but didn’t consider the realities of the Incontinence / tube feeding/ access issues/ seizures / learning difficulties / medication / pain / sleeplessness / hospital appointments / EHCprocess etc etc etc

People envy the sun bed reservation here or the queue pass in a theme park etc but don’t take a second to imagine how hard life actually is living with a disability.

Most theme parks now are moving towards a system whereby you need to provide evidence of need not just diagnosis for ride access passes and things which although it is a pain in the backside to sort does make more sense because it hopefully ensures support is based on need.

In travelling with my niece who has severe developmental disorder and other physiological issues. She is very small for her age (14) and very obviously has special needs. But she does not need special equipment. Here in Spain everyone has been very kind and accommodating and engaged with her.
It does worry me if there is an ongoing trend to intolerance. My DD was diagnosed with MS at 17, and while not disabled in any way now, it can suddenly change. It's one of those 'hidden disabilities'. She is a bit clumsy and has poor balance, and suffers from fatigue. She may need to sit on the tube for example, but outwardly looks perfectly normal.

Not the thread but realistically we cant have all adhd and all asd kids and family skipping to the front if that adds uo to say 6%+ kids then adding sibs/others acessing rides at the same time.
And i say that with an asd child who doesnt q well.
Then add in those with other disabilities or temporary broken leg etc.

Then obviously theme parks have people paying to skip q too.
Tbh we havent been in a yr as 60-90 per q only 7-10 rides a day.

On terms of op im not sure you said if there were other free sunbeds?

I guess its partly people not likeling you bagsying the sunbeds when not actually using them at the time.

Overally people seem keen to get the benefit of a SN even when its not medocally needed - see thread about people parking in disabled bays then disabled person not getting out.

Only some asd kids would be unable to q. For others getting used to it is good. As there will be q they have to wait in. Really we shouldnt be payong to go in somewhere to wait more than 30mon ots rather a con.
At ppw it was crazy as the q move so slowly and its kids under like 6 so many of them cant stand for 2h!

Yes Disney does not give queue passes for simply using a wheelchair.

I agree with some others that say it's possibly partly due to the huge increase in invisible disabilities and the amount of perceived "special" accommodations that don't always look/ appear necessary. And to be honest, aren't always necessary. And that some of the accommodations do now seem to be viewed as compensation rather than necessary.

It used to be few people that used the access queues at theme parks. But now they're often so long that the people that really need them still can't use them. And yes there are people that use them even when not needed. My friend has a son with autism. Those queue jump passes were vital when he was young. He's now a teenager and can wait. He doesn't like it. But he can. But she still gets them for him. And then obviously the rest of the family/ friends can queue jump as well. She even refuses to go to places that don't give you unlimited queue jumps all day as its "not worth it if we have to stand waiting all day".

I also once witnessed an argument at disney where a family wanted to queue jump as their daughter was in a wheelchair. It was explained to them that the queue was fully wheelchair accessible. But they weren't happy they couldn't jump the queue. Why did they need to jump it if the only issue was a wheelchair? (Obviously no I don't know all the medical details of this child. I'm only going by the argument I could hear).

I go to an event a few times a year that involves lots of queuing. They do queue jump access passes. My husbands friend gets one. Her reason? She's got hearing loss in one ear. I honestly can't see why someone with hearing loss needs to jump a queue.

I've mentioned this on here before that I've seen people in the accessible queue at thorpe park wait over an hour extra for a ride that broke down with no issues. Again I know people are going to say "well you don't know what happened later" and no obviously I don't. But I do think these issues are why people are getting less accommodating. They wait 2 hours with their child who's getting irritable and watch others jump the queue who don't seem to have a huge amount of issues waiting.

It's sad really. As the amount of people with disabilities increase its only going to get worse for those that really need adjustments and who struggle.

I agree- but I was trying to balance explaining the mindset without saying it’s justified.

Your post makes intolerance sound like the result of a media conspiracy. When actually it's down to the very real erosion of service levels. It's not a scarcity 'mindset' it's actual scarcity. Not being "survival level' doesn't reduce the effects.

A reserved parking spot or queue jumping doesn't matter if there's plenty of other parking or reasonable queuing times. Because the disabled people aren't perceived as getting anything 'special'.

Things are getting more and more expensive/effort intensive but of worse quality. Again this isn't something fuelled by the media , it's actually happening.

YANBU OP.

I can't say whether or not it's getting worse. But I have to say parenting forums in general have really opened my eyes to how much prejudice there still is towards disabled people. I naively used to think that nowadays, virtually no one would need educating on disability rights. But there are so many threads proving otherwise, particularly when it comes to prams on buses. I've even seen at least four posts calling wheelchair users selfish for getting the bus unless they absolutely have to, because "there might be a mum with a buggy who needs that space more". Absolutely no one would tell an able-bodied person that they were selfish for getting the bus to the shops or to a friend's house, because someone might come along who needs their seat to go to a doctor's appointment. There's a bizarre expectation that disabled people should be on constant alert that somewhere out there, there might be an able-bodied person whose needs trump theirs - yet no one expects able-bodied people to think "How can I make this place more accessible in case a wheelchair user arrives?" whenever they go anywhere.

I think it seems to have got worse post Covid. That seems to have made a lot of people a lot more self centred sadly