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Listening to people debate the infection rate/survival numbers for COVID makes me think of the bi-annual debate that springs up, again and again, around Disney's disability access program. I will explain.
If you, like me, are someone who uses an assistance device (in my case, an ECV) when attending large theme parks, Disney has an access program that will help you have a good time despite trying to navigate large crowds in an assistance vehicle.
This program does the bare minimum in many cases; it allows me to "reserve space" in lines where my ECV doesn't fit. It allows me to go into the shade rather than parking myself for long periods in the sun while medically fragile. It grants me access to reserved space for shows.
I don't get to cut, go straight to the front of the line, or avoid queuing. Disney recognizes that this would be unfair. (I believe that for some medical conditions, they do grant "cutting privileges," and if you're sick enough to need them, please enjoy them).
But every few years, someone sees an ECV driving up the back end of Pirates of the Caribbean (because we don't fit inside the line queue!) or sees a parent pushing a wheelchair through the shorter line at the Jungle Cruise and gets angry.
Or worse, they see someone like me, who CAN walk short distances, transfer from my chair to a table without leaning on my cane theatrically for every step! Clearly we are cheaters! Line-cutting cheaters! HOW DARE WE!
And every time this happens--every single time--there's a massive review of the system, which reveals, every time, roughly 2% fraud, and leads to a revamp that makes it harder to use.
I am an adult who chooses to spend time and money at Disney Parks. When I encounter an ADA violation or a policy change that makes something inaccessible, I dig my heels in and fight it like it's my job. Because it is. Because I can.
If I make the system a little kinder for the parent behind me, trying to escort two autistic children through a system that used to have a lot more compassion, it was worth my twenty minutes of frustration. But this has happened every two years for the last DECADE.
And the system was not ripe for abuse five revisions ago. It was just kinder.
But why does this remind me of COVID? Because there is a way to "cheat" at Disney.
But why does this remind me of COVID? Because there is a way to "cheat" at Disney.
Disney offers VIP tours. Starting at $750 an hour, for up to ten people, not inclusive of theme park admission (so the first hour is really $1000). Go to the head of any line, have AWESOME seating for any show.
And this is not a secret! This is listed on their website as a thing you can do! People do it! But no one complains about the docent program. No one says "these people are cheating."
And part of that is volume. I see, on average, one VIP tour a day at Disney Parks. I see dozens, sometimes hundreds of people using assistive technology to enjoy their vacation. Get rid of all of us, the Park gets less crowded.
But mostly, it's humans being bad at math. Everyone wants to think that they'll be rich; that someday, they'll need that VIP tour for themselves. No one wants to think that they'll be disabled, although statistically, most of us will be.
So when I say "the odds that you'll survive COVID are X," people think "great, the odds are in my favor, no need to be worried." I'm seeing more caution as the message becomes "the odds that you'll survive with PERMANENT ORGAN DAMAGE are X." Still not enough.
No one attacks the docent program because everyone wants it.
Everyone attacks the disability access program because nobody who doesn't need it wants it.
Everyone attacks the disability access program because nobody who doesn't need it wants it.
This is why the responses to the COVID death/damage statistics make me think of Disney.
