Hi all! Big fans of the podcast!
I'm listening to the 4/16/08 e-mail podcast, and during the discussion of stroller price increases, one of the hosts, I couldn't tell who, said something to the tune of - under the Americans with Disabilities Act, no one has the right to ask you if you are really disabled and need a wheelchair or stroller, etc.
Based on my understanding of the ADA, that's likely not true, and certainly not true in all cases.
From my understanding of the law, nothing in Title I of the ADA, which applies to public accomodations like Disney World, says that as a matter of law, it is unlawful to ask somone to justify their wheelchair or stroller use.
It may be true that it could be legally problimatic in certain circumstances should Disney start asking some, but not all, guests in wheelchairs and strollers to justify their use of these devices without reason. However, should Disney have legitimate reason to suspect that someone isn't legitimately disabled and is misuing their wheelchairs or strollers, its my understanding of the law that Disney is within its legal rights to question these individuals.
Of course, the ADA doesn't prevent guests from questioning these individuals, but the ADA also doesn't require guests claiming to be disabled to answer such questions from other guests.
On a separate note, the same host later implied that Disney is seemingly only motivated by profit for increasing the stroller rental prices. That may be true to a certain extent, but in my opinion, I doubt Disney is expecting to make a killing on stroller rentals in the grand scheme of things. The price increase is likely to discourage folks who rent strollers and don't need them since the big disney strollers have started to clutter certain areas of the parks. It's a shame that some folks who legitiamtely need strollers and wheelchairs have to suffer because of abuse of the rentals.
Thank you for the great podcast!!!!!
I'm listening to the 4/16/08 e-mail podcast, and during the discussion of stroller price increases, one of the hosts, I couldn't tell who, said something to the tune of - under the Americans with Disabilities Act, no one has the right to ask you if you are really disabled and need a wheelchair or stroller, etc.
Based on my understanding of the ADA, that's likely not true, and certainly not true in all cases.
From my understanding of the law, nothing in Title I of the ADA, which applies to public accomodations like Disney World, says that as a matter of law, it is unlawful to ask somone to justify their wheelchair or stroller use.
It may be true that it could be legally problimatic in certain circumstances should Disney start asking some, but not all, guests in wheelchairs and strollers to justify their use of these devices without reason. However, should Disney have legitimate reason to suspect that someone isn't legitimately disabled and is misuing their wheelchairs or strollers, its my understanding of the law that Disney is within its legal rights to question these individuals.
Of course, the ADA doesn't prevent guests from questioning these individuals, but the ADA also doesn't require guests claiming to be disabled to answer such questions from other guests.
On a separate note, the same host later implied that Disney is seemingly only motivated by profit for increasing the stroller rental prices. That may be true to a certain extent, but in my opinion, I doubt Disney is expecting to make a killing on stroller rentals in the grand scheme of things. The price increase is likely to discourage folks who rent strollers and don't need them since the big disney strollers have started to clutter certain areas of the parks. It's a shame that some folks who legitiamtely need strollers and wheelchairs have to suffer because of abuse of the rentals.
Thank you for the great podcast!!!!!