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Additional Support Needs & DAS Help & advice |
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12 Jun 17, 04:42 AM |
#1
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Getting Excited
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Travelling with autism - recent experience
Just a quick one, recently travelled with my family (ds1,ds2,ds3 and DH) to Orlando. Flew Dublin to LGW to MCO. Sought assistance at Dublin, Gatwick and MCO airports and ds2 is autistic and aged 11.
Dublin airport staff and Aer Lingus staff were all excellent, brought to to top of lines for bag drop, special assistance lanes for security, priority boarding. Fantastic ! Gatwick not so good, despite having the hidden disability lanyard. No assistance whatsoever as staff didn't seem to know what it was. Having said that made our way through without any great difficulty. Virgin ground staff at gate were very poor, for some reason we were held at gate as were on connecting flight from Dublin, had to wait while they checked our details, no priority boarding despite me telling them I had special needs child and again staff didn't recognise hidden disability lanyard (ground or cabin staff). MCO - allowed to use special assistance lane which was great then storm delayed baggage for 90 minutes and the meltdown was inevitable 🙁 MCO staff could clearly see I had a distressed child, I asked but no there wasn't anywhere we could wait nor could he use his ds or tablet. Then in his distress he lost his Aer Lingus important flyer badge which was last straw for him. Eventually calmed him and he fell asleep hunched up on the floor. If only the weather had been ok it would have been fine as we would have been through immigration and in car in 30 minutes. So some bad luck and lack of trained staff resulted in mixed experience overall. Xx |
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12 Jun 17, 02:34 PM |
#2
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Thread Starter
Getting Excited
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For our US/IOA visit we used the folp as we stayed in RPR. We also requested the attraction assistance pass - guest services after passing through entry turnstiles. Short line here and very helpful staff. It was busy in the parks but the folp worked in most cases. Our ds is pretty independent too so we also used the single rider line - one of us would go before him (we had to negotiate this as being first is always a big issue) and we met at the exit of the ride. We found the folp more useful than the aap.
I would recommend using early entry as the parks are much easier to manage as crowds start to really build after about 12 noon. We discussed what we really wanted to do on the way to the park so had an idea of a plan for rides. The rain last week made for cooler parks but ds2 didn't like having wet feet or clothes so a spare pair of shoes would be good and also those quick drying t-shirts and shorts. We didone wet ride first day and gave them a miss after that,the ride was fine but having wet clothes didn't. So early short days worked well for us. We also did Gatorland - very hot as no real place indoors to get respite from heat but less crowds less walking. More bugs - despite his love for creatures (as he calls them) this doesn't extend to bugs, especially flying one's so watch out, we brought bug repellent wrist bands for kids and the spray and cream for bites etc and this helped him manage. Off to Animal Kingdom today as he loves loves loves dinosaurs and creatures Xx |
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12 Jun 17, 02:49 PM |
#3
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Imagineer
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I'm not seeing poorly trained airport staff anywhere here except at Gatwick where you say it didn't impact anyway. Priority boarding sounds odd as you presumably requested it in advance (something I never do as I found it was better to board last so my son had less time restricted in his seat rather than a longer time waiting for everyone else to board and settle. ) . The problem seems to be lack of disabled seating at MCO in the baggage claim, however I remember having a similar issue there travelling solo with my ASD son when he was eight during a foot and mouth epidemic . We just found a wall to sit against and I had to just work at keeping him calm ... it wasn't easy and I do sympathise but simply passengers can't be allowed to leave the area without baggage. Certainly MCO could do better with supplying disabled seating in this area of the airport still, but that has nothing to do with the training of the staff and everything to do with the airports management of disabled facilities. Losing the badge however can't be blamed on the airport staff.
Edited at 02:56 PM. |
12 Jun 17, 03:29 PM |
#4
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Thread Starter
Getting Excited
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Didn't request priority boarding in Dublin but ground staff at gate suggested it to us and it worked well for us as once he was seated he was happy with his tablet. It might not work for everyone but he was delighted by this.
As regards MCO, airport staff training is surely a huge part of airport management. Understand no one can leave area and totally agree more seating 'required for those who might need. Better air conditioning too as it was very hot. Staff (plenty of them at the time) clearly didn't seem to understand and, sorry to say, weren't interested. Losing the badge was just an accident and nobodies fault. Just sharing our experiences... |
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12 Jun 17, 04:00 PM |
#5
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Imagineer
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Sounds more like , nothing they could do...if there's no reserved seating and you can't leave then what else could they do ? What do you feel they could have done differently within those limitations ? What were your expectations? (Apart from say nothing they could do using more positive language... but ultimately the same end result). They are security staff not hospitality staff after all.
Edited at 04:02 PM. |
12 Jun 17, 05:00 PM |
#6
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Very Serious Dibber
Join Date: Jul 15
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I understand where Cindy is coming from on this one. If her special needs child was wearing a lanyard that indicated that he has a hidden disability then you would expect the staff to recognise that and see if they could offer any assistance.
My ASD 11 year old is highly anxious and priority boarding is very beneficial to him as he becomes agitated and anxious in crowded situations. Ground staff are not hospitality staff as you say but what's the points in lanyards being issued in the first place if they are not to point to the fact that the wearer might need some extra support assistance? |
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12 Jun 17, 05:07 PM |
#7
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Apprentice Imagineer
Join Date: May 14
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Totally agree surely the whole point of the lanyards is that's it's discreet to the public but that all staff know what they mean ( or should do )
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12 Jun 17, 08:38 PM |
#8
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Apprentice Imagineer
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Thanks for sharing your experience. Can I just ask how was you allowed to use special assistance lane at MCO? Is this something we have to request before we get there or can we ask to use it when we arrive? This is the one part that is really stressing me out about landing. I'm not looking forward to the meltdown of one very tried little boy.
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13 Jun 17, 04:19 AM |
#9
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Thread Starter
Getting Excited
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Disneybride I googled MCO airport and special needs and got an email address (sorry don't have email address at the moment) and I got a reply immediately asking for our names, date of arrival, flight number etc which were then passed to immigration officials so they knew we were coming. Once off the plane we told the airport customer service staff (in gold waistcoat) we had special needs and we were directed to that line. If the weather had been in our favour it would have been great. Apparently you can also request virgin ground staff to meet you at the plane when it lands - we didn't feel we needed it but its another option. Hope this helps.
Just been to Animal Kingdom today and got the DAS at guest services - easy to get, inside the turnstiles is a shorter line, didn't need to produce doctors letter. Worked very well and managed to do a lot |
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13 Jun 17, 04:42 PM |
#10
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Imagineer
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We came back Saturday with our 2 autistic boys. At Manchester picked up the lanyards and where able to use priority check in and disabled security line. Had assistance coming off the plane at MCO the lovely lady took us all the way through security to hire car. Coming back used wheelchair lane at MCO and had priority boarding. Used the assistance passes in the parks as well only issue was a 6hrs wait at AK for the new ride!
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AKL, AMI, Luxury Villa April 2016 Villa Holiday/HRH/AKL May 2017 Villa Holiday/Clearwater March 2018 Villa Holiday May 2018 Planning Easter 2020 Edited at 04:46 PM. |
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