Monday 17 June 2013

Being Paid To Go To Disney

I read this article in The New York Post about rich people hiring disabled people to avoid the lines at Disneyworld.

I have to admit, my first reaction was: if someone is willing to pay for me and my child to have a free trip to Disneyworld, then I would be happy to allow them to join us on our special needs pass.

However, that's not quite how this works.  Disney has had a long-standing policy that individuals with special needs can get a special pass to avoid standing in line.  It's a rare instance of a corporate win-win.  Disney gets good press about being sensitive to children and people with special needs and the rest of their clientele isn't disturbed by major meltdowns.  Good for business all around.

This appears to be a situation where families are paying an obscene hourly rate for an adult in a scooter to help them bump the line.

I'm less okay with this scenario.

If a rich family wanted to share the wealth by helping a special needs family go to Disneyworld (which most of us wouldn't be able to otherwise afford), that's a nice gesture.  A little entitled, but still a nice gesture.

Just hiring a disabled adult is wrong.  Yay for them for making money, but there's no good will to balance out the incredible entitlement.  Why shouldn't you have to wait in line with the rest of us just because you have money?  Almost everything else in your life is easier because you have money ... line waiting is one of the few democratic equalizers left.

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