Alton Towers to remove disability pass for people with ADHD and anxiety

[AnitaRita]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2gwgj4xreo
Too many people wanting to join the "Fast pass queue" so you actually end up with two queues rather than one queue and a fast entry! Got to agree with them - if you're too anxious to queue then a white knuckle ride is probably not for you!

Yes my DS had ADHD & ASD, DD has ASD (probably ADHD as well but undiagnosed), it costs us a fortune.

It is absolutely factually the case that disabled families spend more. Only a very small minority of mothers of disabled dc (including autistic dc) work full time and that is because it is just so hard to work full time when your dc need so much support and can’t manage day to day activities. Many autistic dc have a lot of night time needs so families go without sleep and hard to use any form of childcare for holiday/wrap around and the dc can’t cope, so family incomes are a lot lower on average.

I think AT is right to withdraw this, if someone has difficulty with crowds and queuing or is anxious then AT is probably not the best place to visit. No one likes queueing or crowds.

Not sure what you’ve read of the thread already, but there are many Autistic people who love rides but can’t manage to queue.

Attendance at place such as AT involves queuing and waiting, just as other activities involve waiting or queuing that is I am afraid part and parcel of the activities. There are many young children who find it hard to queue autistic/adhad or not , at the end of the day we make choices on attending events or places depending upon both the positives or negatives that is a choice. Parents of non adhad/autistic children may judge it’s too difficult for them to queue so they don’t take them to some activities or take them for a shorter time frame as it’s a question of balance, similarly others do not have the funds to attend. It’s not a right to attend AT , this was a concession and it’s been withdrawn so the choice is still there the children an attend AT like others

When did parents start getting to tell schools their children need more time for exams etc? At ours it's the Support for Learning Team who recommend this on a case by case basis.

When you’re disabled, or the parent of someone disabled, those choices are less clear. While it’s not a right to attend AT, it’s the law that accommodations are made where possible so that disabled people are not disadvantaged and can take part wherever possible. A disabled person has just as much right to attend as a non disabled one, and its the mark of a civilised society to facilitate that as easily as possible.

Nope.

You really don’t get it and clearly don’t want to get it, so I’ll not engage any further.

It would have been a case of ‘nothing to see here’ because these disabilities weren’t widely recognised and children with them were simply labelled difficult or learning disabled. So they would be signficantly disadvantaged at school with a knock on effect in adulthood. Thankfully we’ve moved on from the dark ages and we identify these difficulties as early as possible in an effort to minimise the disadvantages they cause. It’s called progress.

I think the most striking thing here is the poster seems to think it’s OK for the choice to be made for a disabled child not to attend places like AT simply on the basis of disability. That’s direct discrimination, and it’s why reasonable adjustment exists. What kind of society is happy for disabled kids to miss out simply because they can’t cope physically.

i don’t agree with your views and you disagree with mine , it works both ways!

This reminds me of a flight I took from Greece to the Netherlands. The priority boarding queue was longer than the normal queue. Sure enough by the time I boarded there was someone in my seat. I reassured the steward that I was travelling alone and didn’t mind where I sat. He was so relieved I wasn’t making a fuss He found me a seat with an empty seat beside me and plied me with free drinks throughout the flight.

I actually find being around people I don’t know very anxiety inducing. But love rollercoasters. I’m in therapy and on medication now and it’s going much better but at my worst I couldnt even enter a supermarket. I would just break down and cry and I couldn’t explain it. And then I didn’t leave the house for a long time.
I am now going through ND diagnosis and working on my mental health through a different lense has been much more beneficial.

I love rollercoasters and basically anything that I can speed down or jump down lol.
I don’t enjoy being around people in a queue but I can manage it as I am good at zoning out or Soemtimes I end up overcompensating a share my life story with strangers 😂 - but
all I ever wanted is mental health support.
My LO however gets very overwhelmed waiting in queues and runs away so I tend not to take him anywhere that involves a big queue unless we have to. Airports are fun lol.

In reality, if a disabled person can go on 10 rides while a non-disabled person can only manage five (or even fewer), there’s no real reason to go to the park at all. Let’s leave parks for the people who need them more — if the parks can survive and avoid going bankrupt.

It would seem more reasonable to offer a set number of passes that would equate to the same number of runs an average ticket holder gets just without the queues.

But what about a non neurodiverse child that is forced to wait for 4 and a half hours because 100 "anxious or other" plus accompaniment get on in front. Said child may only get to go on two rides all day yet has paid premium to enter the park? No child enjoys queues. I totally get "some" of the people using the faster queue system needed to but certainly some also abused it and ruined for the rest.

Yes, that’s probably why parks changed their policy — because families with non-disabled children started giving up. Parks are profitable businesses, not charities. People don’t mind paying taxes and helping those who are less fortunate, but there are limits.
I would rather parks go bankrupt than spend an entire day in queues so that my child (now an adult) only gets on three rides. It’s the same with special needs schools: do we want to help disabled children and families? Yes. Do we want rubbish collection reduced to once every four weeks? I don’t think so.
Everything comes down to money — who is going to pay, and who is expected to spend hours in a queue for someone else’s child? It’s a very tricky situation.

Completely agree with this - well done Alton towers

There is a genuine need for some young people to bypass the queues, but it's actually more worrying that some here think you can't enjoy a ride because you're too anxious to queue, the nuances of neurodivergency aren't quite getting through to some folk.. 🙄
Perhaps some do abuse this system but it doesn't mean it shouldn't be there for those who truly do need it.

But that’s part of going to a theme park. You queue to go on the rides. Can’t queue, don’t go. Pretty simple. If I couldn’t handle stairs I wouldn’t go somewhere with lots of stairs.

If your child is autistic why would you want to take them to a theme park thats overcrowded, lots of time standing in line and going on scary rides. Must be lots of better ways to spend your time. Equally if you suffer with anxiaty!
Lord have mercy....people with anxiaty get benefits to stay at home and not work. But you can get your arse off the sofa to go to a theme park!!!!

Oooo whats that? (I could Google but like thw discussion)

Ewww. Make it stop.