Skip to main content

Disney wins lawsuit against mother of autistic son

News
walt disney world magic kingdom

Walt Disney World has won a court battle against the mother of an autistic son, who was suing over disability access allowances in Disney’s Disability Access Service.

Donna Lorman, who is president of the Autism Society of Greater Orlando, lost the court battle after a dispute over the updated allowances given to autistic guests through the Disability Access Service (via WDW News Today).

Lorman filed the lawsuit after Walt Disney World changed its policy on disabled guests following reports that visitors were hiring people with disabilities to help them skip the queue (via Mail Online).

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Disney created the Disability Access Service Card, allowing those with disabilities to get return times for rides, much like a FastPass, so they don’t have to queue.

Mother in disagreement with Disability Access Service

Lorman was in disagreement with the resort’s Disability Access Service policy (via Tampa Bay Times). She was not looking for a financial settlement from Disney – she wanted to increase the number of re-admission passes that her son would receive from around five to ten.

US District Judge Anne Conway sided with Disney in ruling that the theme park resort was not being unreasonable when it refused to allow Lorman’s autistic son to skip lines at theme parks.

Conway said that others may abuse the system, and said that “requiring the modification, based on the history of the former system, would lead to fraud and overuse, lengthen the wait times significantly for non-disabled guests, and fundamentally alter Disney’s business model”.

Meanwhile, Six Flags will become the first family of theme parks to be designated as Certified Autism Centers (CAC), with all 26 locations earning the CAC designation.

Share this

Bea Mitchell

Bea is a journalist specialising in entertainment, attractions and tech with 10 years' experience. She has written and edited for publications including CNET, BuzzFeed, Digital Spy, Evening Standard and BBC. Bea graduated from King's College London and has an MA in journalism.

More from this author

More from this author

Related content

Your web browser is out of date. Update your browser for more security, speed and the best experience on this site.

Find out how to update