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No Segways, theme parks tell disabled
Disney and SeaWorld Orlando cite visitor-safety concerns.
Scott Powers
Sentinel Staff Writer
October 13, 2007
When James Nappier, a petty officer in the Navy Reserve, first rode his new Segway scooter out into his Loxahatchee neighborhood, he felt emotions that were rare since he got home from Iraq.
On the two-wheeled, electric scooter, he could get around easily. That felt like personal freedom. Standing on the upright vehicle, he could look neighbors in the eyes, not the belt buckles. That felt like equality.
"It's been a godsend, because I can get out and get around on it," said Nappier, 49, who suffered leg- and arm-nerve damage in a May 2004 mortar attack in Ramadi, Iraq.
"I try to take it all the places here I can."
But he can't take it everywhere. Disney and SeaWorld Orlando won't allow visitors to use Segways, citing safety concerns.
"We're not turning people away," Disney World spokeswoman Kim Prunty said. "We're turning away a particular form of transportation."
Earlier this year, Epcot officials wouldn't let Nappier enter on his Segway, forcing him to reluctantly use a wheelchair pushed by his wife, Lacey.
Segway advocates plan to turn up the heat in efforts to get Disney and SeaWorld to allow Segways as wheelchair alternatives.
Much of the push is coming from an organization called Disability Rights Advocates for Technology, or DRAFT, which raises money to donate Segways to disabled U.S. military veterans and pushes for their acceptance.
Many people who use prosthetics, and people who have spinal or neurological conditions that affect walking more than standing -- such as multiple sclerosis -- find Segways offer more mobility and dignity than wheelchairs, said DRAFT co-founder Jerry Kerr, 52.
Kerr, who suffered spinal-cord injuries in an accident and uses a Segway, estimates that at least 5,000 disabled people have purchased Segways to get around, up from a few hundred that he estimated three years ago.
Introduced in 2001, Segways weren't designed to be mobility devices for people with such disabilities. That doesn't mean they cannot be used by people with disabilities or allowed as alternatives to wheelchairs, though it does mean the $5,000-plus cost is not normally eligible for insurance or state or federal assistance.
Disney runs paid, guided Segway tours of Epcot and the Fort Wilderness campground for customers, and has put many of its employees on Segways. But Disney officials said they see serious safety concerns if potentially untrained visitors are riding Segways on the same crowded walkways as toddlers, elderly persons and people with sight, hearing, mental or mobility disabilities.
They say they are also concerned about the speed of Segways, which can go 12.5 mph, much faster than most -- though not all -- motorized wheelchairs, and about some safety aspects, such as what happens if the batteries run out (Segways can fall down).
"Our concern has continued to be the safety of all our guests and cast members," said Prunty, the Disney spokeswoman.
SeaWorld spokeswoman Becca Bides offered similar concerns and added that SeaWorld is lined with winding, sometimes thin paths and walkways of varying grades and construction, which may be ill-designed for Segways.
Universal Orlando permits disabled riders on Segways on a case-by-case basis, though Universal officials would not talk about the matter.
Segway Inc. takes issue with challenges to its safety. But the company also recognizes the rights of individual businesses to decide whether to allow them, spokeswoman Carla Vallone said.
"I don't know what their specific concerns are," Vallone said of Disney and SeaWorld. "What I can tell you is that more than four independent agencies' studies . . . all have been neutral or positive, saying it has performed very well."
Those included a Federal Highway Administration study, published in 2004, that measured characteristics for 14 personal vehicles competing with bicycles, ranging from in-line skates to Segways and included standard wheelchairs and motorized wheelchairs.
In many key factors -- notably, visibility to others, turning radius, deceleration, braking distance, size and riders' sight lines -- the Segway rated best or second-best among the 14.
Among agencies that have agreed to allow Segways as mobility devices are the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of Transportation, for public buses, trains, stations and airports.
After running a pilot program in malls in Houston and Nashville, Tenn., Simon Property Group, the nation's largest mall operator, and part-owner of Florida Mall and Seminole Towne Center, decided this summer to allow disabled riders to use Segways in its malls.
Billie Scott, a spokeswoman for Simon Property Group, said the company is requiring disabled Segway users to register and accept a list of rules and regulations before they can come in.
"It was our own experience with Segways that really won us over," she said. "We began deploying them, on a limited basis at first, with security staff. Now a very large proportion of our malls have units who use Segways."
No Segways, theme parks tell disabled
Disney and SeaWorld Orlando cite visitor-safety concerns.
Scott Powers
Sentinel Staff Writer
October 13, 2007
When James Nappier, a petty officer in the Navy Reserve, first rode his new Segway scooter out into his Loxahatchee neighborhood, he felt emotions that were rare since he got home from Iraq.
On the two-wheeled, electric scooter, he could get around easily. That felt like personal freedom. Standing on the upright vehicle, he could look neighbors in the eyes, not the belt buckles. That felt like equality.
"It's been a godsend, because I can get out and get around on it," said Nappier, 49, who suffered leg- and arm-nerve damage in a May 2004 mortar attack in Ramadi, Iraq.
"I try to take it all the places here I can."
But he can't take it everywhere. Disney and SeaWorld Orlando won't allow visitors to use Segways, citing safety concerns.
"We're not turning people away," Disney World spokeswoman Kim Prunty said. "We're turning away a particular form of transportation."
Earlier this year, Epcot officials wouldn't let Nappier enter on his Segway, forcing him to reluctantly use a wheelchair pushed by his wife, Lacey.
Segway advocates plan to turn up the heat in efforts to get Disney and SeaWorld to allow Segways as wheelchair alternatives.
Much of the push is coming from an organization called Disability Rights Advocates for Technology, or DRAFT, which raises money to donate Segways to disabled U.S. military veterans and pushes for their acceptance.
Many people who use prosthetics, and people who have spinal or neurological conditions that affect walking more than standing -- such as multiple sclerosis -- find Segways offer more mobility and dignity than wheelchairs, said DRAFT co-founder Jerry Kerr, 52.
Kerr, who suffered spinal-cord injuries in an accident and uses a Segway, estimates that at least 5,000 disabled people have purchased Segways to get around, up from a few hundred that he estimated three years ago.
Introduced in 2001, Segways weren't designed to be mobility devices for people with such disabilities. That doesn't mean they cannot be used by people with disabilities or allowed as alternatives to wheelchairs, though it does mean the $5,000-plus cost is not normally eligible for insurance or state or federal assistance.
Disney runs paid, guided Segway tours of Epcot and the Fort Wilderness campground for customers, and has put many of its employees on Segways. But Disney officials said they see serious safety concerns if potentially untrained visitors are riding Segways on the same crowded walkways as toddlers, elderly persons and people with sight, hearing, mental or mobility disabilities.
They say they are also concerned about the speed of Segways, which can go 12.5 mph, much faster than most -- though not all -- motorized wheelchairs, and about some safety aspects, such as what happens if the batteries run out (Segways can fall down).
"Our concern has continued to be the safety of all our guests and cast members," said Prunty, the Disney spokeswoman.
SeaWorld spokeswoman Becca Bides offered similar concerns and added that SeaWorld is lined with winding, sometimes thin paths and walkways of varying grades and construction, which may be ill-designed for Segways.
Universal Orlando permits disabled riders on Segways on a case-by-case basis, though Universal officials would not talk about the matter.
Segway Inc. takes issue with challenges to its safety. But the company also recognizes the rights of individual businesses to decide whether to allow them, spokeswoman Carla Vallone said.
"I don't know what their specific concerns are," Vallone said of Disney and SeaWorld. "What I can tell you is that more than four independent agencies' studies . . . all have been neutral or positive, saying it has performed very well."
Those included a Federal Highway Administration study, published in 2004, that measured characteristics for 14 personal vehicles competing with bicycles, ranging from in-line skates to Segways and included standard wheelchairs and motorized wheelchairs.
In many key factors -- notably, visibility to others, turning radius, deceleration, braking distance, size and riders' sight lines -- the Segway rated best or second-best among the 14.
Among agencies that have agreed to allow Segways as mobility devices are the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of Transportation, for public buses, trains, stations and airports.
After running a pilot program in malls in Houston and Nashville, Tenn., Simon Property Group, the nation's largest mall operator, and part-owner of Florida Mall and Seminole Towne Center, decided this summer to allow disabled riders to use Segways in its malls.
Billie Scott, a spokeswoman for Simon Property Group, said the company is requiring disabled Segway users to register and accept a list of rules and regulations before they can come in.
"It was our own experience with Segways that really won us over," she said. "We began deploying them, on a limited basis at first, with security staff. Now a very large proportion of our malls have units who use Segways."
