Deaf Disney (Part 2).

The next day we returned to the wonderful place of guest services after arriving in Animal Kingdom this time. We had high hopes of having a problem free day but this was not going to happen. There were three interpreted shows that day, one a bird show named 'Flights of Wonder', one interpreted performance of 'Finding Nemo: The Musical' and another named 'The Festival of The Lion'. We picked up the captioning box- there were no problems there as we knew the drill by then and set off into the park filled with the hope of a new day. 

After the interpreters we met on the first park, I had high hopes for the interpreted performances that day. There seemed to be a Disney standard, all the interpreters seemed to be taught to sign the different elements of the performances in certain ways. For example, the welcome speech was interpreted by one person in a very formal manner with more English word order, the songs were also similar, and depending on the mood, they had the same tone. At the first interpreted performance we met two new interpreters, named Jessie and Corey. They were interpreting a bird show, where some of the park's birds were brought out and did little tricks to entertain the audience. The two interpreters shared the characters brought on stage and even interpreted the voice of a speaking parrot, using a clawed hand shape to indicate it was the bird that was speaking. Clever. When two interpreters are stood next to each other co- working, it is hard not to analyse their performances and it was easy to spot the strengths and weaknesses that each of them held. No two interpreters sign the same. Jessie was a very fluid signer, but I think this came with a lot of practice with her co- worker, and she had the ability to act what was happening on stage with vivid facial expression and very accurate posture and body language. Corey's strength lied in his signing skill, he signed beautifully and purely but he was missing the ability to portray the feeling and emotions of the characters on stage. At points his signing came of flat and emotionless, meaning the deaf members missed out on the feeling of the performances. 

This was also similar for the other two performances, Jessie making a fantastic ditzy- headed Dory in 'Finding Nemo: The Musical' but Corey severely lacked in acting ability for the show. Remember the part where Nemo is taken by the diver? Y'know, the really heart
wrenching scene in the movie, where Nemo's Dad is screaming for his son? Well, the interpreting looked like he was calling him down for supper. There was no urgency or emotion and it failed to give across the same feeling as the original show. Quite disappointing really. However, the interpreting for 'Simba's Pride Festival' was a work of art and an absolute joy to witness. The two worked as a very close pair: Jessie playing up to her strengths by bouncily interpreting the songs with so much energy, I was nearly sweating just looking at her. Corey droned his way through the dialogue, again failing to portray the energy and emotion found in the characters voices. But, it was the songs that were interpreted  by both of them where my jaw hit the floor. The songs from the Lion King are beautifully emotional but when interpreted in ASL, this became a whole new level. It had never occurred to me that you can display vocal displays visually through dance. When the singers were showing off the vocal talent, the interpreters had a little dance off, this was a hilarious add on that kept the tempo going. I was also wondering how they were going to interpret 'Hakuna Matata'. Finger spell it really fast? No. They used the ASL signs for 'chill down' or 'chill out' which worked really well. I just thought they were dancing. 'Can you feel the love tonight?' was also mind blowing, the interpreters standing side by side, hugging each other with one hand and signing one handedly, in perfect unison as if they were two bodies conjoined. I can't describe how incredibly clever and well rehearsed that performance was. I also liked the fact that the interpreters were a part of the performance, chatting with the performers during lulls in the music, not just two unacknowledged people in the corner waving their hands around.

We started off the day with more problems with the devil box. We got on a safari through the African themed part of the park, the driver wore a headset and narrated the trip, telling the audience interesting facts about the animals and pointing out what animals that could be seen. I knew this but Alison didn't. The captioning box loaded up fine and then refused to give out any information for the whole of the safari trip, meaning a lot of information was missed. Alison could cope with this, because it was a visual experience, spotting the animals in the surrounding landscape.  Then we got on the dinosaur ride which was probably my favourite ride, zooming through the dark with dinosaurs leering out at you, light flashing and the operator yelling dramatically that: 'You need to get out now! There is a meteor strike coming!'. I got off the ride breathless with exhilaration, decrying that it was fantastic and amazing and I wanted to go on it again and then we came across the picture taken during the dramatic finale. I was looking like a big girls blouse, shrieking away from the camera with a face that looked like I was about to poop myself. Alison looked bored. That's when I realized that we had very different experiences of the ride due to the fact the caption box had yet again not worked.

I was a bit devastated, the ride was awesome and the reason it was awesome was because the hype was caused by the voice over. I could access this but Alison couldn't because her technology had failed on her. We found an attendant, who, after ringing a manager, told us that the ride did not have captions, except for the safety announcements at the start. I got quite mad at this, why didn't it have captions when all the other underground rides we got on had them? We stomped off to guest relations yet again, this time with the intention of kicking ass. We asked for an interpreter again and didn't even get a friendly staff member with a little bit of sign this time. We got a attendant who couldn't care less, who slouched over the desk and wasn't interested in the fact that my friend had just completely lost out for a stupid reason. He unhurriedly handed over a comments card, not even a complaints form and said he would pass over our comments to a higher staff member. At this point another staff member came over, triumphantly sporting a schedule of the interpreted shows as if it would make it all okay, the attendant told her that 'this lady is upset because she hasn't received the access she was expecting' in a voice that completely showed he couldn't care less about our problems. That's when we both got really mad. Alison asking the man to step into her shoes and try to understand what it must be like being fully deaf and having to rely on a small plastic box for access. The man FINALLY looked slightly sympathetic and realized he was going to have a scene on his hands unless he did something quick. That's how we got free Park tickets for the following day  but this by no means made up for the lack of access on the park, especially after the fiasco the previous day.

So, once again, Disney failed at providing appropriate access for deaf people. However, there were some small positive elements that sort of made up for the lack of access. I have to commend Disney on their interpreted shows and some of the staff were helpful upon learning that Alison was deaf. One lady we met at the Rainforest Cafe, found out Alison was deaf and then immidietly went voice off, gesturing frantically and going 'Toilet, toilet, toilet, its over there!' and hi- fiving us both. She was immensely proud that she knew the sign for toilet, and it was nice to meet someone who didn't ignore or patronsie but simply accept and try and use the language. We met another lady whilst we were visiting a monkey enclosure, we were having a conversation in BSL on how we would love to be able to be that lazy when we both became aware we were being watched by one of the staff that worked with the animals. She lifted her hands
and started signing in blunt sections of American Sign Language explainging about how the monkeys would eat so much that they would just fall asleep. We both stared in half shock for a minute and then Alison asked how she learnt and the staff member replied that she had started learning in school but without use, she had lost the ability. She now signs to visitors who are deaf and know sign language when and wherever she meets them. These two staff members were a breath of fresh air in a park where, except for the interpreters, there was very little sign language or deaf awareness.