This summer has been full of events and travel, including a full family trip to Disney World. While we have been enjoying summer, the world has been shifting and changing so rapidly it has been hard to know what to write about. There have been too many possibilities, but something we learned at Disney did strike me as extremely valuable for inclusive culture change work. Here’s my story.
My mother-in-law is a fit and active 70 year old with some issues that make four days of walking and standing for hours very challenging. She decided to rent a scooter while we were in Disney World. Though this is not something she’d need in daily life, it was an incredible benefit to her and made the whole experience possible.
The learning part for me was more about how I reacted. Every time we asked for closer parking or a wheelchair, I was sure that someone would say no. I felt nervous that there would be pushback and that, at some point, Nana would need to stay back or not be included. I experienced some sense of anxiety every time I asked if a scooter could come with us in line or fit inside a restaurant. And every single time, the answer was a resounding yes. Disney only offered us kindness and solutions, openness and opportunity. There was no shame, no pity, no guilt. Every time resulted in joy that this option made it possible for every generation of our family to enjoy ourselves and be together. Yet, my nervousness still lingered. It was important to have the accessibility lesson repeated for us over and over. I needed it.
The experience made me think about my culture change inclusion work. We are often held back by our belief that what was still has to be—that that’s just the way things are. I’ve been so used to experiences when having mobility issues meant not participating that I had trouble even expecting anything different. It’s been 34 years since the ADA passed, almost to the day. Clearly Disney has done an excellent job thinking through methods that make their parks as accessible as possible. And, for me, since this was not a norm in my experience, I had not thought about what this type of accessibility might feel like. Let me tell you: it feels great.
What I plan to do is use this personal learning in my work. My clients often feel confused or limited when I ask them to imagine what a supportive and inclusive work environment might feel like. If they have rarely (or never) experienced one before, then often they are nervous to dare imagine it—let alone ask for it. Our job as facilitators is to defy expectations. Over and over again. In other words, we might say that we are helping people discover that when you wish upon a star, your dreams can come true.
By Lesley Curtis