Autism & Travel

I have a son who is autistic. Now some of you may wonder why he's not in the pictures that I have posted of our recent vacation. Well unfortunately our son had to cancel coming with us because of tummy issues. He chose to stay home with grandma instead. But what would I do to support him on a trip that for an autistic person may become very overwhelming. My son is 16 years old and was just diagnosed about 6 months ago with autism. We tried to have him diagnosed when he was a toddler but they couldn't tell back then if it was ADHD or autism because he had to many other issues to determine it. So they diagnosed him ADHD and said to retest him later. Since he was turning 16 and we were going to have to make decisions about driving, getting a job, and more adult things we needed to get a full diagnoses.

Our son is a great kid. He is pretty calm, but definitely has trouble paying attention to things he's really not interested in. He loves gaming and guns/military things. He has lived.a pretty structured and sheltered life and when that structure is messed up it can send him into a panicky mode. He starts pacing and genuinely freaking out. A lot of times he thinks it's something he did wrong when usually it's just a malfunction. He doesn't handle emotions real well or crowded rooms with to much going on, so he wears headphones a lot to help drown out the noise. So what can you do for an autistic child or adult on vacation?

Well 1st of all since you know them pretty well most likely you will know the best thing to do to help keep them calm, but in some situations you know they would love to do it, but maybe waiting in line for long periods of time is not good. This is the problem we run into with my son. He loves to go on vacation, especially if we're going to an amusement park, but waiting in lines and all of the crowds are a lot to handle for him. The best advice I can give is to look for things that the place does for autistic or disabled people.

I know that Six Flags is now a certified autism center, and has great programs for people with autism. Universal Studios has the unlimited express pass, if you can afford it, or they have the Attraction Assistance Pass which lets you get a formed signed if the wait time is longer than 30 minutes at a ride. Then you can come back at a specified time and get into the fast lane to ride the ride. The only disadvantage to this is that you have to ride that ride 1st before you can sign up for another, but hopefully you would be able to go ride a ride with a shorter wait time while you wait for the 1st ride.. The best option is to have the fast pass and then the AAP for the rides that don't take the express pass.

Disney also has what they call Disability Access Service. Now to get this service you have to preregister with virtually with a cast member over video chat between 2-30 days before your stay. The member of the party that needs the DAS needs to be present at the time of the video chat. Once registered the DAS will be available on the my experience app for the whole party. So what does it do? Well it doesn't get you on the rides faster but it does let you basically join a virtual queue so that you can come at a certain time to ride the ride. These are just a few that of the examples that are available. If you have someone with autism in your party research if where your going has and services available or contact us and we'll do the research and planning for you We're always available to help on your next journey.