I really want to thank everyone here for this discussion. Without the DIS, I’d never have even know this was in the works. I’m a 30-year local APer who rarely clicks around the WDW site: I know what I need to know already lol!
As are so many of you, I’m concerned and stressed by this news. I went through a traumatic event that resulted in PTSD some years ago. It’s gotten better, but can be set off by being in a loud, confined space in which I can’t see a way out. And I’m short and travel solo - so that makes a lot of indoor queues difficult to impossible. I never considered
DAS until I had a pretty bad episode one day and had to exit a queue in a hurry, which was physically difficult and very stressful. A friendly and kind CM happened to be right there when I got out and I apparently looked rough because they asked if I was okay and I added to my embarrassment by telling them what happened. They pointed me to a nearby quiet spot where I could pull myself together and encouraged me to at least speak with a GS CM about DAS. The next day I did, and they could not have been more kind, compassionate, and helpful. They asked about my concerns and I explained that if I feel trapped, I can go from a little panicky to black-out pretty quick: it’s a horrific feeling and will leave me a mess for hours, often the rest of the day. I also admitted that I felt foolish asking for any kind of accommodation, and that I’d been managing my situation thus far by simply not visiting much and avoiding many attractions. Not only was I approved on the spot, they specifically told me, “Guests like you are the reason we have the DAS program: we don’t want you to have to miss out on attractions when there’s a way for you to wait safely and still enjoy your day.”
I guess my point here is that it was WDW that encouraged me to use DAS in the first place. And they were right: it’s made my experience SO much less stressful and more enjoyable - which frankly is good for their bottom line: I’m “worth” more when I can stay in a park all day, vs. needing to leave after two hours. So if this new version of DAS really will only be available for developmental disorders, it feels like I’ve had the rug pulled out from under me. I never abused the system. I never bother with advance selections or wasting online CMs’ time by getting my next 60-day approval in advance, since I mostly do day trips and can just find a blue umbrellas when it’s not busy. I’m one person, occasionally 2-3 people for a couple hours if out of town friends happen to be visiting at the same time.
I’d like to think whoever it is we’ll need to speak with will make the same kinds of assessments the CMs do now. And I can’t see any reason they'd WANT people with panic disorders and the like to be falling apart in lines, where it presents a danger to themselves and to others. But the current lack of clarity is… concerning.