Reasonable Accommodations

My family and I are on vacation.  We are visiting theme parks and family, splitting up when we need to for the well-being of our kiddos on the spectrum.  My 15-year-old son in particular has a number of "rules" he's self-imposed to protect against sensory assaults and general violations.  One is that he cannot get his shirt wet.

When you're in Florida in the summer, you WANT to get wet.  (It's 100 shades of hot down here.)  So as much as my son wanted to get wet in a theme park on a ride with water features, he could not tolerate sacrificing the dryness of his shirt for the cooler sensation.  In anticipation of boarding the ride's transport, he removed his shirt.  The attendant informed him he'd have to put it on for the ride.  I flashed our accommodation pass and told the attendant that my son had autism and could not get his shirt wet for sensory reasons.  He insisted that if his shirt were off, he could not be in the park.

We graciously bowed out of the line after waiting for a stifling 35 minutes, watching the rest of our party enjoy the ride.  And I tweeted my discontent, believing that this inflexibility was denying an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) promised "reasonable accommodation".  The response was, "we only allow this [men's shirts off] in the Water Park to ensure comfort for all guests". Sure -- all guests except those with autism and sensory issues.

Here's how this applies to you: Be flexible. I am not sure there would have been a person in that ride transport who would have been uncomfortable with a shirtless teen boy -- certainly not if we were willing to communicate the reason for the (potentially offensive) upper body nudity. But the park had decided that it's better to deny access than to be flexible for someone with a disability. Don't get me wrong; the park policy to be accommodating for people with mobility impairments and neurological differences is in place when it comes to boarding rides. It just doesn't extend to attire regulations.


So when it comes to the rules of your classroom and the expectations of your school campus, understand that the spirit of the ADA should allow for reasonable accommodations. Maybe it's realizing that your incoming kindergartener is going to need to hang onto his favorite comfort item for transitions. Perhaps it's allowing your middle schooler to choose a different Phy Ed uniform than the routinely issued one. It could even be that your student needs to demonstrate her competence in an alternate assessment. These are all reasonable accommodations. They are not safety infractions or otherwise illegal.


And if another student or faculty member challenges the accommodation, remind him or her that, "Fair isn't everybody getting the same thing. Fair is everybody getting what they need in order to be successful."

Vertigo Builds Empathy

Who knew?  Who knew that what started out as an awful world-spinning, head-dizzying week could end with me having a better understanding of what some people with autism must experience?  On Tuesday, our family had scheduled a fun-filled day at an amusement park complete with water park.  We were excited!  We had worked it out so my son's therapist could join us, in case our two children with autism spectrum disorders required us to divide and conquer.  What we didn't really plan on was Mom ending up with vertigo before we even walked through the gates.

Yes, what seemed like an adventurous string of three thrill-seeking roller coaster rides turned into a nauseating nightmare.  I guess I should have known by the near stumble up the ramp to the second coaster that my inner ear was far less amused than my brain, but I chose to ignore the dire warning and pressed on.  And on.  Until fail.  Literally.

So the 80-minute ride home was a malignant medley of starting and stopping and snack smells and horn blows, endurable only with my eyes closed and focused deeply on my breathing.

photo by Vincent Laforet

A couple days later, when my thoughts could focus on other than the symptoms and side effects of vertigo, I recalled what Judy Endow had presented on at the 2011 Autism Society of Wisconsin Conference.  She talked about her experience traveling to New York City.  She showed PowerPoint slides with tall buildings contorting and swaying, noting this animation was similar to the experience she had.  She needed help to get onto and off of public transportation.  And by the time she got to her hotel room, she was exhausted.

So many of us take our senses of balance and proprioception ("the sense of the orientation of one's limbs in space") for granted.  We know when we're upright and when we're seated.  We understand, without having to think too hard, that our feet are connected to our legs, which are firmly attached at our hips.  And yet, a touch of vertigo can flip all those senses.

And what of our children, students, or friends with autism?  These connections to the exquisitely sensitive inner ear in individuals with different brain wiring could certainly mean that feedback regarding parts of their bodies and steadiness is unreliable.  And if that feedback were a sense of disconnection, dizziness, and/or nausea, isn't it reasonable to think that associated "behavior" could be holding onto walls, lack of awareness of personal space, or avoidance of certain motion-related activities?

When I think of all the things people with autism must feel without being able to successfully communicate those sensations to us neuro-typicals, I am urged to do better to understand and make accommodations for their differences.  I encourage you to do the same.