Autism and Merlin RAP

[Perzival]

I think it's fair to say that the amount of people diagnosed with autism has increased by a huge amount compared to the amount of people who were diagnosed with the separate conditions prior to the change in the diagnostic manuals and people with a dx can vary between being a doctor and having a family, mortgage, social life etc to requiring 2:1 24 hour support with very limited communication.

This week Merlin that own Alton Towers, Thorpe park, Chessington and Legoland have decided to not give their ride access pass to people who struggle in crowds. This has caused uproar within the Merlin/ theme park groups as the majority of people who have this struggle have autism.

For those who aren't aware, in order to get a Ride Access Pass (RAP) you have to give evidence of your disabilities to a company called Nimbus who then decide what type of issues you have and give you a card with various icons on that you can them submit to venues for reasonable adjustments.

Throw in the commentary around the SEND white paper and the government review into why so many people are being diagnosed and i'm wondering if this is a more general move and one which is becoming more acceptable.

As the diagnosis has gone from previously representing mainly boy/ men with quite complex needs to representing a vast array of differring presentations and with an ever increasing amount of people being diagnosed, aibu to think that this is just the start and more venues/ places will limit or remove reasonable adjustments for this group of people?

AIBU= No, there isn't a push back against the autism diagnosis and adjustments made for the dx

AINBU= yes, more venues will start to remove or reduce adjustments for those with Autism

To avoid drip feeding I have a ds with profound autism and would imagine he will likely always get various reasonable adjustments (still gets RAP) etc.

I don't know anything about the Radford family but when we went to DLP it was the pass holder + 5 (maybe 6?) who could go on the ride and the pass holder + 2 for parades/fireworks.

This is ridiculous, you don't get a nimbus card if you "self-diagnose". I had to provide evidence of my son's disability, I think I gave his DLA award letter. And to get DLA I provided various evidence including his diagnostic report.

A gentle reminder - not necessarily for you OP but a general point to anyone reading - that the phrase "high functioning" has been widely debunked. My son does not have a learning difficulty, cognitively he has a high IQ, but he is physically and emotionally unable to manage his own basic physical needs (will not eat or use the toilet without lots of prompting, often has wee accidents age 8).

If we can't get fast track any more we just won't go. F* Merlin.

Merlin will do anything to cut costs. Disneyland Paris has a wonderful access system which seems to work well and isn’t overcrowded because they run their rides with a full complement of staff and run the rides at full capacity all the time (unless there’s a breakdown). Merlin parks are notorious for not doing this which leads to the long queues for both the regular and rap queues.
im disgusted in this recent decision and as for people saying don’t take your autistic children to theme parks, why shouldn’t they have the chance to enjoy going with a little bit of adjustment?

So everyone's experiences are obviously different, but from my families perspective my AuDHD kid is fine in crowds, she doesn't mind the people in theme parks, she doesn't mind the noise (as she's not trying to concentrate on anything) but what she doesn't "get" is the queueing. She managed about 10-15 minutes whilst being constantly entertained, after that the frustration builds and builds and she is likely to either lash out, have a total meltdown or run away and hide.

We try to go to theme parks at quieter times (Disney in the last 2 weeks of summer hols is the quietest time of summer for example)- but we have never taken her to a Merlin park as we would only be able to go on weekends and school holidays when it's super busy.

We try and work on her ability to queue as she's getting older, we have things to distract and entertain, but the reality of the situation is that there are some times she does need the accomodations.

As another poster mentioned, at the point she gets denied the Disney DAS we will just have to suck it up and pay for lightening lanes, that's our reality and sometimes it sucks but we are so fortunate to be able to do these things in general, we have to just keep the positives.

People without anyone autistic in their life find it hard to comprehend how a family with a child that can't cope with crowds, queue's etc choose to take their child to a busy airport, put them through a 10 hour flight to a strange place then say their child can't queue. Too many people abuse the system and spoil it for those children that really do need the extra help.

Where do you draw the line between them, though? Many people, myself included, never fit into the smaller categories because whether or not I was best described as having 'Asperger's' or 'autism' depended on who, when, and where you were asking. For many of us the two labels aren't completely different, because we're somewhere in-between; something the previous differentiated system routinely failed to identify and support.

I've never been to a Merlin park, but knowing this news I certainly won't be going in future. I don't think I'd be able to handle it, and I'd rather support a company who are more supportive of the whole spectrum of autistic people.

Exactly this!

I know parents IRL that have children with autism that don't particularly struggle to queue or in crowds. They have other struggles so I'm not saying that they don't have Autism, it's just that Autism presents differently in different people. The parents have always try to get every ride access pass that they can because obviously nobody actually likes queuing and you can have a much better day at the parks with one of these passes.

Really people's anger should be directed at these people. They have abused the system and made the Ride Access queues unnecessarily longer for those that genuinely do really struggle with queuing and have made the whole system unsustainable.

Great post, well said.

There's also subtleties that those without experience of autism are missing, because sometimes the issue with 'queueing' isn't the standing and waiting, it's the environment around it.

DD can stand and wait in a queue for as long as you'd like her to - as long as that queue is predictable, quiet and no-one asks her to do anything.

What she absolutely can't cope with is:

Sudden loud noises
People encroaching on her space
Not being able to move away from either of the above
Uncertainty about what will happen next
Pressure to comply with instructions coming from strangers

So, an ordered, respectful queue, well spaced and patient, where she knows what will happen - she can do that all day. She'll mostly just get her book out and read.

But a queue where there are people jumping around, shouting, kids are whining or crying, groups of teenagers are being loud and egging each other on, waving cameras and phones around, loud music, where 'traps' her in, by switching back on itself, or if there are personnel barking instructions or she has to be separated from us, answer questions independently or has to comply with something unexpected quickly - nope. She can't do that.

Which is why she has both the no queueing symbol and +1 symbol on her access card.

Merlin's RAP was perfect for her. She's completely okay with waiting her turn, she'll even happily stand 'in a queue' - but it has to be the right queue.

I have just read that in some Merlin locations at some dates it has been reported that 44% of guests were using the Ride Access Passes. Surely everyone can agree that this isn't sustainable for anybody?

Devils advocate here but there are many children with autism that are capable of lining up for rides but those parents I'm sure would always use the availability of less wait times.

There is always the ability to purchase fast passes.

We had to provide evidence that my child had difficulties in crowds/queues etc to get our access card. We didn't get one 'just' because she was autistic.

My whole family is autistic. We are in Scotland and when we go to Alton Towers we have to stay in the hotel so that we can come in and out of the park and go back to our room for some time out - we cannot get a full day - we are lucky if we get 2 hours max in the park at a time The RAP doesn't let us skip the queue as such, it just allows virtual queuing and was a reasonable adjustment for us so that we could do some of the rides without having to be amongst the queue - just queuing is bad enough but add in bored kids carrying on, people not behaving appropriately or within rules, encroaching on space and the day is over for us. We can't visit at peak times even with the RAP so now the parks are totally inaccessible for us which is a shame. We were fine with RAP being pre-book only and think they could easily have restricted it this way.

This week Merlin that own Alton Towers, Thorpe park, Chessington and Legoland have decided to not give their ride access pass to people who struggle in crowds. This has caused uproar within the Merlin/ theme park groups as the majority of people who have this struggle have autism.

It’s more that they have specifically stated that they will only give their RAP to people who cannot stand due to a physical mobility impairment (or those who have urgent toilet needs or need level access). It is pitting disabled people against each other because why is a physical conditional automatically more worthy than another type?

I qualify for RAP but do I need it? No. Do I believe that there are many children out there who don’t qualify but do need it? Yes.

Remember it’s not just those with autism who are impacted but many other conditions. I saw one parent saying about how her child with Tourette’s will now be continually telling all the preschoolers in the queue for CBeebies words that their parents are unlikely to appreciate. Also, the likelihood is that when a child who cannot cope has an autistic meltdown, those around will be impacted and that child will probably be escorted out of the park. All for being disabled.

Does anyone who feels the current criteria should stay have a solution?

It's really rubbish that these queues are becoming so long that they are inaccessible for my DB. He has so little in his life, he is non-verbal and lives in a care home.

My son already has a RAP that goes up to 2027.

I’m assuming they’re not going to pull already existing passes? That would really piss me off.

It’s surely a money making scheme, as they think/ know families with a need for a pass will therefore be pushed into buying one.

By all means they should require strong evidence - as they already do/ did - and keep the numbers of additional riders to a minimum (2 seems plenty as if you’re in a group of more than three, there’s the ability to separate up). But pulling the whole scheme for those with proved difficulty queuing is appalling - it’s basically saying “you can’t come to our parks”

The RAPs require you to virtually queue anyway, you just have the chance to be standing somewhere else whilst the wait time goes down.

Or if they think it’s not fair somehow, they could give virtual queuing to everyone! But oh dear that would mean losing out on a money making opportunity.

They already sell far more tickets per day than they should be as it is.

Would you say the same thing to someone with a physical disability, e.g. mobility issues?

Is making accomodations so that person can also access somewhere built for a non physically disabled person 'expecting everyone to bend over backwards' and that they should just not want to nor bother going to that place?

So it's for all intellectual disabilities as well as neurodiversity?

They could give them to everyone. And have lots of climbing frame/ play areas about for those waiting, calling people over via the app when it’s near their turn.

And sell fewer tickets per day as it’s ludicrous how crowded it can be - you can’t even walk from one place to another.

No one needs to be standing in painfully long queues - it’s just money making!

‘People without anyone autistic in their life find it hard to comprehend’

Well exactly, if you have zero experience of parenting an autistic child then you might not understand or relate to those who live it every day 🤷‍♀️

Surely instead people will agree that when companies put things in place to support those with all kinds of disabilities, that those people will be regular customers and that will skew the results?

Merlin already has a booking system in place to allow a certain percentage of disabled passes for any one day, regardless of how many season ticket holders there are. RAP doesn’t allow for queue bypassing, it’s just a case of booking your slot and going away for the duration of the current queue before returning.

Yes, they are pulling off some people. The queue symbol has been split into two; those who can't stand forlong periods and those who can't cope with crowds. You may get ome or both symbols. You meed to have the can't stand, level access or urgent toilet needs to get RAP. Nimbus have already reassessed all cards, you can contact them to find out what or which symbols you have been given.

I think this sort of thing is inevitable with the rise of diagnosis. Society needs to work this one out.

I encounter these tensions at work. Most of my team is neurodiverse in one way or another (including me). I literally cannot accommodate all the adjustments they need because their various needs contradict each other.

i think the expectations of “reasonable adjustment” need to be clarified as well - it doesn’t mean “everyone gets exactly what they need/want”.

I agree. We went to Legoland and had a queue pass for autistic DS. (Although would like to point out the ‘free’ ride pass you would get for disabilities was the equivalent of the cheapest paid option and you could only use it for a limited number of rides and only during certain timeframes, but this was fair enough)
The queue times in general seemed outrageous, 60-90 minutes for really basic children’s rides! Paying £100 plus for a family to then get on four rides in the day is criminal. We went on an inset day too.

Yes, they have pulled them all, hence the outcry - unless your child’s access pass has one of the three symbols that are now required for eligibility. You can contact the access pass company direct to check what symbols he now has.