Chip
The Best Part of a Great Trip to Disneyland
We recently returned from a family trip to Disneyland in California. My nine year old son Scott is deaf, and has a significant visual impairment, but within the boundaries of the Happiest Place on Earth he’s just another kid. Disneyland does a tremendous amount to ensure all aspects of the park are not only accessible, but welcoming for kids with disabilities. ASL translators are available on request, without charge, for certain attractions. Without exception, staff that noticed he was deaf spent more time with him, and several even tried out a bit of sign language they had learned.
On our final day, tired and ready to go home, already very happy with how Scott had been accommodated, something happened that we will always remember.
If you’ve taken a young child on a vacation, you’re familiar with the devastating realization that the time has come to go home. Scott was sad, but he takes these things in stride. It had been a long week, and we were all fighting off seasonal colds at various stages. The restaurant at the hotel was obscenely expensive, but we wanted to get Scott some pancakes to cheer him up on the last day, and could not find them anywhere else.
Having resolved ourselves to a “fancy-dinner” sized bill for a good, but not a particularly special breakfast, we settled into the dining area, where several Disney characters walked around taking pictures with kids at each table. Chip, the smaller nosed half of the chipmunk duo Chip and Dale came by to say hello, as chipmunks do. He (I’m choosing a gender to match the character, but it could have been anyone in that suit) noticed that Scott had a hearing impairment, and that we were both signing and speaking to him. He signed a few things as well, which didn’t surprise me much since many of the characters often used a few simple signs. After some giggling and a picture, Chip was on his way, but Scott had taken interest, and signed “more” to him. Chip grabbed a chair, came to sit down with us, and started signing to Scott again. If he wasn’t fluent in ASL, he certainly could hold a conversation, and stayed for quite a while talking with all of us. Characters at Disneyland only talk if they are in costumes that show their real face, but we seemed to have found a loophole. As he left, he told us that Scott had made his day. The feeling was mutual.
Scott is the kind of kid who has a special ability to find his own way and enjoy himself regardless of how he is treated. There are many more kids in the deaf community who have a great deal of trouble, and feel very isolated. Chip made Scott feel very special that day, and it made me think of all the other kids that have had the same experience. I’m sure there are kids who have met Chip, or perhaps another character played by this Disney employee, who have been made to feel not just special, but something even better — Normal.
