I'll answer for as much as I know, others are welcome to add...
IBCCES stands for the
International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards. They claim to be "the industry leader in cognitive disorder training and certification for education, healthcare, corporate and travel & entertainment professionals around the globe." Such claims are generally hard to prove or disprove so take that as you may.
You've probably heard of various entertainment venues becoming "certified" in autism awareness or autism-friendly in recent years. I believe Sesame Place was the first, maybe back in 2018 (?). This is the organization behind whatever trainings for staff/management as well as the organization who "certifies" that level of standard. It usually means a certain percentage of their employees have been trained on "autism" and the facility/activity has certain offerings or protocols in place that may help individuals with cognitive or neurodiversity disabilities. Pretty much everything they do is autism-focused, though not to knock that as there is definitely some overlap in autism-related needs and other cognitive or neurodiversity disabilities.
The organization has expanded their attention from primarily education-focused at first to now offering training and certifications for the travel industry -- amusement parks, zoos, museums, etc. Along with the program/facility certification, they offer an "
accessibility card" that they claim essentially "proves" an individual has a disability and may need accommodations, supposedly removing that decision making from the employees at the venue.
One big problem is the ADA generally frowns on requiring proof of a disability to receive basic accommodations equalizing access. The IBCCES Accessibility Card requires individuals to upload documentation as proof of disability, which IBCCES presumably reviews and accepts or denies (very few reports of being denied). However the entertainment venue (Universal Studios, Six Flags, etc.) still then makes determination of final "on-the-ground" accommodations that will/will not be offered to an individual. While that may seem to be a good situation for weeding out fakers of "invisible" disabilities, it really doesn't necessarily do that because the documentation folks are reporting they provide is so broad and varied and easily faked. Plus many of these venues presumably require this card for
any disability including a wheelchair user to access a wheelchair ride vehicle, etc. Which just flies in the face of all logic.
It also means someone with a disability cannot wake up one morning and decide to go to the park for the day if they don't already have one of these pre-approvals on file. Which is contrary to the experience allowed to a non-disabled person. That appears to be the main premise of the lawsuit -- the need to pre-plan, get approval and still potentially be denied accommodation.