Boy jumped into lake a Epcot!

[mimitchi33]

As a person who is on the spectrum and knows some children on the spectrum, I can understand what's happening here. Children on the autism spectrum tend to do things differently. For example, when I was little, I used to smear make up all over my plush toys instead of it's intended use, did ridiculous things that didn't make sense on the internet, painted on my toys and got upset over things people wouldn't usually get upset over (a major example was fire drills). One of the many things autistic people also do is run off (called wandering), and it happens unexpectedly most of the time. My sister is also on the spectrum and something similar happened to this when she was a baby. We went to Sesame Place and she wanted to ride a water slide she was too small for, so she ran off to try and ride it. My parents did find her. Sometimes, it isn't always like this and it ends in tragedy. A story I remember that ended like that happened was when a low-functioning child's pet dog escaped and he ran into the street trying to find him. The dog was found, but the child wasn't. We should be happy that this kid's wandering was caught before something bad could happen and that he was safe.

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

It was so hot on my last trip that a jump in the lake sounded good to me. I didn't do it, though. I used the pool at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

 

[MrHappy]

It was so hot on my last trip that a jump in the lake sounded good to me. I didn't do it, though. I used the pool at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

I suppose you're trying to be funny, but I also suppose you're not an 8 year old boy with autism.

 

[larryz]

Autism aside, here's why it's a bad idea to jump into any body of water at WDW...

 

[21stamps]

Autism aside, here's why it's a bad idea to jump into any body of water at WDW...

The fountains are chlorinated though, right?

 

[larryz]

The fountains are chlorinated though, right?

So are most municipal water systems, and yet...
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/brain-eating-amoeba-found-louisiana-water-systems/story?id=48372045

 

[21stamps]

So are most municipal water systems, too, but, still...
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/brain-eating-amoeba-found-louisiana-water-systems/story?id=48372045

Omg. I wish you wouldn't have posted that. I'm already freaked out enough because we kayak and swing off a rope into the water.. as well as go down a slide in a lake when camping. I always tell my kiddo to blow out of his nose when hits the water.

The only time it doesn't cross my mind is in the shower or any body of chlorinated water.

 

[draybook]

Having spent a lifetime working with children and adults with Autism I can completely see how this could happen. Even with the most experienced staff an individual can act quickly in a way that is very hard to predict.

Most fences would need to be fairly extreme to prevent this type of individual from getting to the water. Many severely autistic children are extremely agile at climbing, with great speed, and no sense of danger.

Appropriate high levels of supervision with a good knowledge of the person is the only mechanism to maintain a person's safety and avoid incidents such as this. The environment can not really be adapted enough to make it safe in most situations.

 

[larryz]

The only time it doesn't cross my mind is in the shower or any body of chlorinated water.

Are you trying to be punny?

 

[danyoung56]

World Showcase Lagoon is 12,100 feet deep which is the average depth of the great body of water that encompasses much of the planet.

???

 

[ninjaprincesst]

This really has nothing to do with Autism it's just a kid being a kid. Kids can slip away from the best of parents , it's just cute and funny to me. The kid was not hurt , so there is no harm no big deal

 

[21stamps]

Are you trying to be punny?

No, I didn't even realize that until you pointed it out.

???

Have you never seen George's posts before

 

[danyoung56]

No, I didn't even realize that until you pointed it out.



Have you never seen George's posts before

Nope. And without a smiley face it's really hard to tell.

 

[Tick Tock]

Nope. And without a smiley face it's really hard to tell.

I'll solve this dilemma for us all, and prevent any further confusion.

@George , could you please edit your post from earlier to add a , or a , or maybe even a at the end, so that people won't falsely believe that World Showcase lagoon is as deep as the ocean itself. Thanks.

 

[thomas998]

ICYMI, over on Facebook this interesting story happened at Epcot today. A boy with autism slipped away from his parents jumped into the water near the Imagination Pavilion. CMs were able to coax him out and he was fine.

Before you guys go on jabbering about, I'd like to say that this boy had autism and it was revealed that the boy was hot and wanted to cool down. Why couldn't the family go back to their hotel and go the pool? Or go into the cool A/C and grab some water?
Thank god Disney's Cast members stepped right into action before it was too late!

And that's a good reason that if you have a kid you can't control that you put them on a leash. Considering gators have been known to turn up in about every pool of water you can find in Florida this was just asking for a very bad ending. Frankly this is also a case where Disney should ban the kid for life for his own good because apparently his parents aren't watching him worth a flip.

 

[thomas998]

Well you never know what a child will do in the blink of an eye. Even the most watchful parent can have their child dart away in a second and they have no chance of stopping them. Go to the pool.... get into a/c...grab water...???? Even though the child was hot, the parents couldnt have known their child was going to jump into the water. Kids are unpredictable, autism or not. Thankfully there wasnt a creature lurking in the water when he went in and another tragedy happen.

Yes any kid can dart away, but any parent that really cares about his/her kid would have jumped in the water and pulled him out. So excuse me if I seriously doubt the kids parents were watching him much at all.

 

[tractor tipper]

Back in the day at DL guys would jump into 20K lagoon to visit the mermaids.

 

[meyeet]

I love all the superior parenting skills within this thread. I'm so glad that kids today and in the future will be raiseed with better standards then their peers.

 

[thomas998]

I love all the superior parenting skills within this thread. I'm so glad that kids today and in the future will be raiseed with better standards then their peers.

Any standards would be better than what many so called parents use today. The mindset of a lot of so called parents today is to do nothing and hope that everyone else watches their kids for them.

 

[jaklgreen]

I am all about watching your kids, but this is funny. I laughed out loud when I saw the kid enjoying himself. He is just fine and I am sure the parents would have jumped in the water in a heart beat if the kid was in danger. I bet they use this as a teaching moment on where and when you can swim.