Imagine you’re autistic and you want to go to the Efteling (a famous Dutch theme park). Yes, it can be pretty intense sensory-wise, but your family is going too, and you genuinely love the Efteling. Fortunately, there are facilities you can make use of. For example, you don’t have to stand in long zigzag queues but can wait elsewhere instead. The Efteling also offers a €2 discount on your ticket, or €5 off per month on a subscription. Nice!

That could have been the end of this blog. But this is the internet, so of course people are upset. It started with this article on Looopings.nl, which reported that journalist/presenter and theme park fan Thomas van Groningen said he didn’t understand these arrangements. I made a thread explaining it, but later Thomas responded that the article was clickbait and that his words had been taken out of context – he said he simply didn’t understand why people who are able to go on all the rides would make use of these services. I’m willing to believe him on that, although the fact that someone can technically go on all the rides does not in itself mean they don’t have a disability.

I haven’t listened to the ThemeTalk episode Looopings quoted from, so I apologised to Thomas for repeating the claims, even though my thread wasn’t meant to be mean – my goal was to inform people. I would advise Thomas to take it up with Looopings if they really did misquote him that badly. Of course, I should probably listen to the whole podcast now, but for the rest of this story it doesn’t actually matter what Thomas said: he may not think that way, but the comments showed that far too many people still do.

I haven’t been to the Efteling in a long time, but at Disneyland I use the disability services too, and at Tokyo DisneySea I even received a discount. In theory, I can go on everything – it’s not like I’m immobile or anything. But as I explained in the thread, and also in this earlier blog about visiting Disneyland Paris: I get overstimulated quickly. If I don’t take precautions, I end up feeling sick after a few hours from sensory overload, with headaches and general malaise as a result. At that point, all I want is to go home – or (in Disney’s case) back to the hotel. I often book longer stays so I can factor in those crash moments (or, if I do it right, intentional rest moments).

I’ve heard stories from parents of autistic children who (even though they really wanted to!) completely crashed after just a few hours at a theme park: meltdowns, vomiting… Even positive stimuli can become too much. If your Efteling visits always end up being short, a discount is helpful. And the fewer sensory triggers you get from zigzag queues and crowded spaces, the longer you can actually last.

But according to some people on X, you might as well just stay home. That way they won’t have to deal with, uh… their misplaced jealousy, I guess.

People seem to see themselves as victims of arrangements that, in principle, don’t affect them at all. Others don’t pay more because people with disabilities receive a discount (are they also angry at people collecting Albert Heijn stamps?), and you don’t automatically get priority everywhere. In Disneyland Paris we sometimes did, but in the Efteling it works like this: if the wait time is an hour, you’re allowed to return in an hour via the special entrance. So you’ve waited just as long as everyone else – just somewhere else.

People also started comparing it to other conditions. “Do they get discounts too?!” The funny thing is: most of the time, yes.

Then there’s one point of criticism I do understand: according to some sources, the Efteling doesn’t ask for any proof of disability, which allows some people to abuse the system. On Reddit I read conflicting stories: some people had to show their Autipas, others didn’t. On the Efteling website, I can’t find a clear explanation of the rules.

I know that the Efteling tends to take a fairly lenient approach, partly because asking for doctor’s notes or diagnostic paperwork could be a privacy violation. Disney is stricter in that regard – at the time, I had to show my Autipas there. In principle that’s a good idea, except that this pass now costs 100 (ONE HUNDRED!) euros.

_{(I think something should change about that anyway, but since the Autipas is a major source of income for the Autism Fund, I don’t expect we’ll see that happening anytime soon… Anyway, that’s a whole different blog. Maybe more on that later.)}

On top of that, the fact that people commit fraud is of course unfortunate, but it’s not our fault. In fact, we’re the first ones to suffer because of scammers like that.

And staying home? Uh, no. I honestly find it shocking how many people think their fellow citizens with disabilities should just disappear from everyday life because they’re inconvenienced by them. And not even truly inconvenienced, no… They feel slighted because they don’t get a discount. Boo fucking hoo.

_{“But what about poor people then?! Do they get a discount too?!”
Yes, they do.}