My friend Mark sent this to me and I forwarded it to my other general interest list. But I also want to send it to this list because of a slightly vague tie-in:
One of our favorite scum-bag developers (whose name sounds like a well known brand of vegetable cooking grease) recently came back from a trip to Disney-world. He was bragging at how he solved the problem of having to stand in long lines to get on the rides with his kids. He rented a car and drove off property to a drugstore and purchased a pair of crutches so he could mimic a handicapped person. Then when he drove back on property he automatically got bumped to the head of the lines. Two points for resourcefulness. Maybe if we're luck we'll end up with him as a neighbor someday. -- -Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. Stranger things have - -happened but none stranger than this. Does your driver's license say Organ -Donor?Black holes are where God divided by zero. Listen to me! We are all- -individuals! What if this weren't a hypothetical question? [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 22:33:14 EST From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Disney Steve - would you consider sending this to your list? It's easy right now to take some pot shots at Disney, what with the Letterman/Nightline fiasco. As a parent, I particularly can't stand the Disney cable channel, which is just one long advertisement for other Disney products, relentlessly pushed at impressionable young viewers. But there's a flip side to the organization and - devil or otherwise - it deserves its due. My nephew, Patrick, suffers from Fragile X Syndrome. According to the FRAXA Research Foundation (www.fraxa.org), "Fragile X syndrome is the single most common inherited cause of mental impairment. Recent studies suggest that fragile X affects 1 in 2000 males and 1 in 4000 females of all races and ethnic groups. Studies also indicate that about 1 in 259 women of all races carry fragile X and could pass it to their children. The number of men who are carriers is thought to be 1 in 800." Among the symptoms are mental impairment, ranging from learning disabilities to mental retardation, attention deficit and hyperactivity, anxiety and unstable mood, and autistic-like behaviors. The lives of my brother and his wife have been dominated by Fragile X since Patrick was born. The challenges of raising this wonderful child are too many to list here. Pam and Jim have been on the rollercoaster of triumph and despair that any parents in their situation must live with. They handle it by being involved with raising money for research - see the Patrick's Pals website at www.patrickspals.com - and by fighting for an appropriate educational plan for Patrick and by simply toughing it out, day after day. The gift of their daughter Abigail, who is not Fragile X, is precious to them. They are a marvelous family. Not two weeks ago, they embarked on an adventure. They borrowed a friend's condo in Orlando, made careful plans and arrangements, and spent several days at Disneyworld. For Patrick to fly, to stay in a strange place, to eat different foods, to interact with strangers, to be outside his normal routine - all of these were uncharted territories and the outcome of this experiment was far from certain. Miraculously, virtually the entire trip went off without a hitch. (Memo to Homeland Security - Patrick was the only one on the flight to Florida who was searched, shoes and all. Hello!) And now a word about Disney. Pam writes, "I'll tell you though, the only way we were able to do so much was because of the treatment that the Disney parks have in place for the disabled. I wish I could influence every other industry to adopt the practices employed by Disney...they made our vacation and Patrick's pure joy possible. I can not say enough about the way they treated Patrick (and us). It was truly a blessing." She adds, "EVERYONE was so wonderful and immediately did whatever we needed to make the experience (be it a ride or show or meeting a character) successful for Patrick. It is obvious that the entire staff of Disney is trained/told/clearly directed as to the policy of Disney to accommodate special needs...and somehow they do it with enthusiasm!" Look, it's a business to them and it's good business to do all of this. But let's be fair. This big, money-making machine has made a deep-down commitment to do the right thing in this regard. That takes leadership at the top and good, decent, caring, hard-working people in the rank and file. They ought to get credit for it and I darned well intend to tell anyone who'll listen. They gave my brother and his family something very special, something that they needed and deserved. It's the least I can do. Thanks for letting me get on my soapbox. Mark [ To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=unsubscribe Archives available at http://www.mail-archive.com/ For help send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web interface at http://frambors.syslang.net]
