Five-Star Disability

And so, the adventures of a Deaf-Blind dad continue!

On a recent Saturday, my amazing wife was out all day, having scored tickets to Pink!

I was with my boys all afternoon and evening!  And had an amazing time!

We discussed what we would be doing, all in ASL! I gave them choices and they decided!

We decided to go to an indoor playground called Jungle Jac’s.  The younger boy had recently gone there, he remembered where it was, and how to get there!  Good!

I checked online for information about the place.  I saw that I needed to fill in a waiver, which I filled in online.  Piece of cake!

We then zoom there, I am using my White Cane, Blind Identity!

Using the boy’s knowledge, we arrived there without any problems!

So far so good!  And then a little issue arises, its really minor and I’m smiling about it.  Really!

We are at the desk, and I sign/gesture “Two kids play” & “socks”.  The Staff Person seems to understand that I am Deaf; shows me the waiver, and tries to talk to me, “Deaf” I sign, and then “Write down” I gesture.  She gives me a scrape of paper and a pen, I write down “Finished Waiver, under Craig MacLean.”  She looks for it and probably finds it because she didn’t make me fill it in again.  Then I write down: “Two kids and one pair of socks.” She writes downs something that is very small, I can’t see it, I show her my white cane, and hand her the Sharpie was in her hand a second ago.  She ignores that Sharpie and continues to write in pen.  Now I voice, holding the Sharpie, “What is this for?  Please write bigger.”  No angry inflections at all, just positive vibes.  She sighs in a dejected exasperated manner and takes a new piece of paper, uncaps the Sharpie and writes the costs.  Much better!

No other problems exist!  She lets the sockless boy pick a pair of socks, and we are in!  FYI, you need specific socks to play here!

I pay and we enter Jungle Jac’s!  The boys have a blast time, lots of fun running around, jumping on 12 trampolines joined together and riding bumper cars!

The issue here: The Staff Person’s “exasperated” attitude.  She was either untrained at accessibility issues, overworked or something else.  She did not smile at all!  Maybe she was working nonstop since opening, panning to overexcited kids, cash-saving parents and birthday parties galore!  Whatever the reason; whenever a person with a disability approaches, accommodate!  Even with the most universally recognized symbol, the White Cane, she should have been aware, and ready to take the right course of action!

It just occurred to me: This whole flare-up could have been averted if Jungle Jac’s had cash machines with visual displays.  If I could see the cost breakdown, then she wouldn’t need to write it down it the first place!  Oh well, there is always room for improvements!

As mentioned, my kids had an amazing time!  There was no animosity towards Jungle Jac’s at all!

We will be BACK!

Thank you for reading!