PR Handicap Problem

We discussed this very topic rather heavily at the AIMS Safety Conference in Feburary. Believe me it's a very fine line that is walked. It's one of those "d****d if you do,d****d if you don't things.

Remember the fires that have recently occurred in England and Germany. It was written that the people in Germany had to "make a quick escape". Even if the man was helped out of that ride, other passengers probably would have shoved passed him creating a mess.
The manager for the S:ROS/SFA the day I was there gave a guy a good talking to because he wanted to ride with a leg cast. It was all friendly, but she knew her stuff very well citing that there are laws and she can get into serious trouble if an incident occurred.
It might be a very great article for Coaster Buzz to talk to a S:ROS/SFA manager about these laws because of all the debating that has been done here at this site. I am soo tired of Six Flags parks being put down. We need to read a positive informative article on a Six Flags Park. And I like that this one is close to home.;) -------------
*** This post was edited by daisybean on 5/25/2001. ***

I agree with you about Six Flags parks. However, SFA probably goes overboard in several respects. I have to hide my glasses just to get on a coaster, and I'm not talking about Joker's Jinx where wearing glasses is a legitimate concern.

I don't think that your escape argument holds water. If we relied on that agrgument, we wouldn't allow the elderly, arthritic, asthmatic, or overweight to ride rollercoasters or for that matter airplanes. That is just the sort of thing that resulted in the creation of the Americans With Disabilities act.

As having probably more personal experience than most, and truly more than I would have ever wished. My daughter was born with her left arm stopping just below the elbow. She's had a prostethis since she was 3 months old. It's just a natural part of her. She is/will be able to do just about everything you, me or the rest of the general public can. This includes getting herself out of a dangerous situation, like a fire or the likes. I am very saddened that Kennywood would take this attitude. I believe they are totally in the wrong, but would like to hear more details on the story. Like, did he ask for a supervisor, and then that person's supervisor. Did he file a formal complaint with the park? I'm also curious, what is he suing for? Is he suing just to be able to go back and ride? Or is he suing for 10 million bucks? I'm thinking that a letter to Kennywood, asking for thier "official" policy on riders might be on order here.


Pat *** This post was edited by scamsdad on 5/25/2001. ***

I'm not sure that I saw anything saying that a suit had actually been filed. I think that we probably have the same attitude that what we want most is for our children to be able to lead as normal a life as is possible with their handicaps. Personally, if there is any question, I ride a coaster before my daughter does and advise her a to wether or not she should ride it. Since her handicaps (lungs & hearing) are not very visible, we don't have problems with ride ops; but might have problems with the cops in the SFOG parking lot.

I like to see physically disabled people on the rides. I was just adding what I found the general attitude of the accessibility guidelines for the parks to be. My poor little brother watches me go on these things and he listens to me talk about them, and he watches them on TV, but he knows he cannot ride them and it breaks my heart. He can't sit, walk or hold on himself. And I am a obese person who gets around just as fast as when I was not obese . It is a bad way to be to assume that a larger person is slow or cannot be slightly more athletic to climb stairs and hop on a coaster. Football players aren't always all muscle, and can weigh excessive amounts.
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*** This post was edited by daisybean on 5/26/2001. *** *** This post was edited by daisybean on 5/26/2001. ***

I think we're jumping to conclusions about Kennywood's policies. I thought I heard somewhere that the only reason they weren't allowing people with prosthetic limbs on Phantom's Revenge was because they hadn't test it for them yet. That very well could be the reason, due to the strange, original restraint system on the ride.

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Matt Lynch
Co-Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com

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Lynch said:
"I think we're jumping to conclusions about Kennywood's policies. I thought I heard somewhere that the only reason they weren't allowing people with prosthetic limbs on Phantom's Revenge was because they hadn't test it for them yet"

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I'll repeat. How do you test a roller coaster for prosthetic limbs? Especially considering that eash limb is unique for the individual. Besides, if you are serious about the issue, you would have done any check out necessary up front. If you have weeks to devote to testing and a full day for the press, you can invite a few members of the handicapped community out to the park for an hour or two to check out any issues.

I don't know how closely you followed the PR saga, but it opened to the public well after the park itself did. They wanted to get it open as quickly as possible, and did just that. I think it's safe to say that guests with prosthetic limbs are in the definite minority, and although it's sad that they have to be turned away, it's not something that's going to happen everyday.

I'm sure the park will look into it (probably already are). The ride's only been officially open for about a week; give them time to work out the kinks.

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Matt Lynch
Co-Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com