11 Neurodivergent Adults Took Over Disney. Here Is What Happened

Hello there. I'm Danielle Ralston. I am the founder and head coach here at ND Out Loud. What is ND Out Loud? ND Out Loud is a team of neurodivergent coaches. We are neurodivergent, every single one of us. TBIs, PTSD, ADHD, autism, ADHD, and so much more. Bipolar disorder, all of the things. We also have a passion for supporting others like us so you don't have to struggle like we did in our past. We have All taken trainings and certifications and all of that so that we can support you in living a better life and upgrading all of the things that are frustrating about your life. What is this session going to give you? This session is going to give you actionable tips. So yes, we're gonna talk about our programs and all of the things that we offer, but I want you to walk away with something actionable for something that is overwhelming, frustrating, or just plain annoying you right now in your life. Or if you're a parent or a spouse of someone with neurodivergence, To help them as well. I want you to walk away with something today. So please sign up today for a free call. We can learn more about each other. Hello everyone. This is ND Out Loud, ND Hive, ND Visionary Partners, all of the ND things. And we actually are here to talk about today our Disney trip, which was now 2 weeks I know. I can't believe it was 2 weeks ago. We are all feeling the Disney dopamine vacuum. We are all feeling sad because we aren't together anymore, except the amount of conversations going on in our chats. We have GroupMe and we have a text chat group chat that's just the 4 of us, and we are active all of the time. My husband's like, are you gonna ever stop talking to those people?

Just no.

No, that we're just talking all the time and that's all there is to it. And end of story and go away. You are interrupting me. But we had a fantastic time and I wanted to bring on some of the people that attended the trip. Obviously, Tim, Tim and Shay are there as part of the NDE Out Loud team. And then Tara was one of the therapists that came to learn from us and now has no choice. She is never being separated from the team ever again. And she's gonna always be here and she can't go away. But we wanna really talk about what happened and the transformation that happened and what did we learn and why is this so important to the neurodivergent community? Things like this. There are conferences out there. There are lots of conferences out there for ADHDers and neurodivergence and autism and therapists and coaches and things like that. But what we put together is something very, very different. One, the training was fantastic, and you could go to some of those other conferences and get some of that. Heck, One of the things I trained on, I've done at other conferences before, but the way that we were able to connect and truly build a community that gets us is something that you don't get to do at your average conference. All of us have gone to many conferences, both as vendors and as attendees and speakers and all of that, and this was not that. Definitely not that in the best way.

possible.

So let's start with this question, and I'm gonna go around and ask each individual person. So when— let's introduce each other first and go through and introduce, just in case the audience doesn't know who you are. I am Danielle. I am the founder and CEO of all of the ND Out Loud, ND Visionary Partners, and ND Hive, and the crazy one. I'm the crazy one around here. I will fully take that title without a problem. And Shay, you go next.

I am Shay Woodward, and I partnered with Danielle back in January, and it's been a fun and exciting ride. And I work with her with coaching with people and just helping us find the fun in dealing with it and working day to day. So I'm sure there's many other things, but I don't remember them.

That's good enough.

Okay, Tim.

So I met Danielle about 45 years ago, and so we've been inseparable since, sort of. But yeah, so I'm a workforce development expert and I'm also deaf. So we kind of like try to focus on the deaf part of it and ADHD. So yeah, so that's me.

And Tara.

I'm Tara Nabors. Looking at the screen right now, I realize I need to change my Zoom name, but that's for a later date. So I'm Tara Nabors. I'm a licensed clinical social worker. I attended the Disney trip. I met Danielle back at the ADHD conference. Whenever that was. And I had known her like online before then, and I was a fan of hers. And I've recently learned that like she went back and was very excited that she had a fan. Then I officially met the entire team 2 weeks ago at Disney. And yeah, licensed clinical social worker. I own my own therapy practice. And now I'm along for the ride with Indie Out Loud also.

So let's start with, what did you learn from Neurodivergent Out Loud in Disney World? We were crazy to see our t-shirts. We had t-shirts, and they do say something on the back, and I'll read you what that is here in a little bit. But these t-shirts and the hats, all of the things caught everyone's attention in Disney World in the best possible way. But what did you learn while we were there? So Shay, I'll start with you.

You know, I learned a lot about myself at the same time, also about other people. I think one aspect of learning about myself was that I felt like, wow, I, I'm a little further than I thought I was. Because when you're not around people that are similar, you always feel like you're behind. You're still trying to catch up with everyone else and that you don't fit in and you've got to find ways to fit in. You've got to put that mask on. You've got to pretend and mirror and do all of that kind of stuff. But the thing that I found fascinating was how we all connected in different ways. It wasn't like we all connected the same way. We all connected in different ways. And each one of us is so different. We, we get that stigma out there that if you have ADHD or autism or you're AuDHD or any of that, you're all the same. You, you have to handle things the same. And I realized even more importantly how diverse we can be within the same diagnosis. Within the same thing. But to be able to go and have fun— do you know how hard it is to have fun day to day? And it makes me even emotional thinking about it.

So I'm gonna try not to let it take over at the moment.

But just being able to let that, that side of us out and not have those expectations and do this and do that. You can just be. So I think that was probably a big part of what I learned.

Tara, what did you learn?

Oh, that is a very loaded question because I went into it expecting to learn a lot that I could take home, you know, to my clients and, you know, to my professional work. But what I didn't expect was how much I would learn about myself. And similar to what Shay said, I learned that I also was further along than I thought I was. And being around a bunch of other neurodivergent individuals and being able to be myself. Like I've always thought, oh, like I'm my authentic self, like a lot. But this was different. You know, it was like when I was there, I learned that like I was given a key that unlocked a portion of myself that I didn't even know wasn't unlocked. And it just helped me to learn that I put too much pressure on myself.

Mm-hmm.

And when I'm able to let that go, like I felt like I could breathe. I learned that I could breathe, you know, somatically, but also like metaphorically too. I could just be me unapologetically. I didn't need to apologize for interrupting people because we all know why we interrupt each other or go on tangents that are just not tangents. It's important stuff. So I really learned a lot more about myself than I expected to, and I think that that's The most beautiful takeaway from this entire trip.

I love that. Tim, what did you learn?

Well, I'll have to admit that when Danielle brought up the possibility of the Disney trip and the possibility of me joining the trip, I'm like, okay, cool. Disney World. It'll be fun to go to Disney World. I haven't done that in a while. But then correlating the Disney aspect of the trip with professional development with ADHD Out Loud and ND Out Loud was something that I didn't quite fully get until I actually started seeing it in action. And I think this is like, Danielle, this is exactly what you envisioned in terms of allowing for learning about ourselves and other people in an environment, in that bubble of Disney, is something that was incredibly profound for me. The other thing that I didn't expect is the friendships that we have developed that are lifelong. I did not expect that at all. And to really connect at a very personal level, especially with the 4 of us here on the screen, and my sister being one of them. We spent the most time together in 30 years or so around that. So that— and I think everyone else kind of witnessed that on the trip as well, that we were connecting as well as Che and Tara as well. So it was incredible. I would never take it for granted.

So what did I learn as somebody who— I spent a freaking year putting this together. I spent the last 6 months doing it in a way I wasn't expecting to because the person that dreamed this up with me in the first place backed out of everything about 8 months ago, 6 months ago. And I had to re-decide how to do everything, and I had to re-put this all together. And I've been dreaming of this or something like this for years, coming together with neurodivergence. I've done small trips with like 3 or 4 women and done it on a really small scale, but I wanted something that was more— that allowed us to let go more. And you have to have outside influence for that. And doing it at the beach, which I've done multiple times, is fantastic. And don't get me wrong, it's amazing and it's a lot of fun.

Yeah.

But it tends to be more low-key and people don't fully unmask and let go. And I wanted that so bad. And the first night after we spent all day together, a good portion of us spent all day together in a small group of us, unfortunately not everyone, because we are all neurodivergent and we went our separate ways. And one of the most amazing things happened at the Fantasmic fireworks that night. I watched this group, this core group we call— I, I've, I've ended up calling it this core group of people, which I'm going to prevent happening next time. Everybody will be together. They don't have a choice next time. But this core group of people connected in such a profound and deep way. I started the conversation and then I just got to sit because I'm in a wheelchair. For those that don't know, I got to sit at the top while everybody else was sitting below me, and I just got to watch them. Connect in a way I, I didn't think that I would get out of people the first day. And because usually it takes more time, but these people connected in such a profound way. And then they were very rarely separated for the next 3— the rest of the 3 days. And they're still together on texts and talking constantly and joining in for body doubling and all of the things. I learned that it is possible even in the chaos of Disney World, which I had this thought and I had this theory and I had this plan that this would be true. But to see it all come together was huge. And did I learn anything, learn anything to take back to my practice? No, I'm very honest, I didn't. But I learned so much. About how the Neurodivergent Brain Break works in ways that I hadn't planned on learning. It wasn't something that I was thinking about or thinking that could happen. And just watching so many neurodivergent brains connect in— we had some high anxiety people, like mega high anxiety people. We had some mega, mega hyperfocused on one specific thing the whole entire time people. We had people who didn't wanna talk and kind of hid in their little bubble and were very quiet. We had people that wanted to ride all the rides and people who didn't, and people who Just wanted to absorb everything that they possibly can, and other people who didn't wanna take part in that. But watching all of those dynamics was huge, and it's gonna be so good for my paper when I write my dissertation too. But it, it just watching everything connect like that was huge. Now, next question is, why was it this type of trip and this type of retreat with the learning and the connections and all that? Why was it so important for your job? Taking it back into your coaching practice, your therapy practice, whatever, and your personal life. So I approach job first and then talk about personal. So Tim, let's start with you.

Yeah, so I'm new in this particular field. I'm kind of new in my own personal journey and recognizing my own ADHD and the challenges that I've always had that I'm now just starting to acknowledge. So I think being around people like me was, I learned a lot about myself from them. Repeating myself and saying that. So, you know, in terms of like personal applications, I'm working on that. And I think what I love from this is that now that we have created connections that are much more long-term than just a week, that learning process is happening as an ongoing thing, especially with the 4 of us. So that, that's where I'm at now. And I'm looking forward to next year and meeting some other people that also have ADHD and anything on that spectrum of neurodivergence, because I'm going to learn from them as well. Yeah, so that, that's my takeaway.

Shay?

As a job perspective, I think it's been super helpful in being able to see the many different ways. This person who has high anxiety, this person who's not necessarily high anxiety but doesn't really want to go out, this person who wants to, you know, kind of be behind that mask and stay there. So it helped in a lot of those perspectives and watching each of us working with each other and how to handle those certain specific aspects at the time. In the chaos, in the middle of Disney. And let's not forget how freakishly hot it was with a heat index over 100. And so we had not only the—

The mental.

The mental, we had also on top of it the physical aspects we were dealing with, with the heat, with trying to stay hydrated and all the nutritional side of things. But as for a personal side of it, for me, I think it was more of the connections and being able to connect with other people. Where I live, it's not necessarily It's not that we don't know that we have ADHD, but it's kind of we still put a mask on. We still pretend it's it's not there, or we try to fit in. So we hide part of us. And honestly, I'm 50, almost 54 this in a couple months, and I'm tired of hiding. And I think that's what really hit was that I'm just tired of not being me. So I think that's probably some of the biggest things. And it's okay if I walk outside and I start dancing in the street because I'm listening. music or while I'm putting my flowers in my flower bed. So I think that's probably the biggest personal side.

That's awesome.

Tara. So it was important for my job to be able to come back to my clients with knowledge and wisdom. And, you know, I've shared a lot of the handouts that I got at the training and it's been really helpful. And it's the gift that keeps on giving because I've given out the nutrition list so many times and it's opened up a lot of dialogue with a lot of my clients. That I've had before, but on a deeper level and being able to say, hey, I went and did this with a lot of these people that I didn't know, and these are the bonds that we have now. And it's modeling like, hey, if I did this, you can too. And being able to share that experience has also been really beneficial for my clients to hear. Just watching them light up as I even just talk about it shows me that they're understanding. And then in my personal life, I came back a different person, like genuinely, like I came back a different mom, a different wife, a different friend, just a different version of me that I didn't even know really existed because I was able to unlock that part of myself and I was able to truly unmask and I've always thought like, oh yeah, I unmask all the time in different places, but not to this scale. And to not have any fear of, oh, if I say this one thing, they're not gonna like me, or they're gonna stop talking to me. You know, like that never crossed my mind once. And it really has just opened my eyes to just the importance of Having people that genuinely understand you for you without you having to explain, because so much of what we do living in a neurotypical society is explaining and apologizing and apologizing again. And sorry, I interrupted. And to not have to do that was so freeing on this trip. And I've stopped apologizing as much because of that. And Danielle, when you bring up the phantasmic trip. I knew you would bring that up on this call. I mean, how could you not? But, you know, I never would've pictured when I signed up, I'd be the one sitting on the bleachers bawling my eyes out, you know, as I'm reading a poem at the middle of Fantasmic. But it was just such a beautiful moment. And when they talk about core memories, I can't even hardly talk about it without tearing up because it was just one of those things where it was so powerful. It was so profound.

Yeah.

I was sharing something that was deeply personal to me. So were other people. Um, and just that connection really formed, I think, the basis for the rest of the trip. And it's why our relationships today are the way that they are.

Absolutely. So what did I learn? One, I got so much to add to my dissertation, people, like you wouldn't, like I filled, I filled the notebook. And of course it's a Mickey notebook, but I filled the notebook with all of my thoughts and everything that happened there. And it's gonna be amazing. And it's a core memory. And this is why I do what I do. It reminded me, this is why I do what I do. I've been doing this longer than anybody else here cuz I've been doing a very, very long time. Almost 30 years. My husband reminded me of the other day, I say 25 years. My husband's like, no, 30. I'm like, nope, 25. Nope. 30. But it, it's why I do what I do. And it's why this is so important to do again, because something that I see in the neurodivergent world is so much disconnection. We're disconnected from the world. We're disconnected from each other. We're disconnected from our spouses and our children because they don't get us. And we feel afraid to share those pieces of us. And we feel the need to apologize for everything. We started calling sorry the S-word. It was not accepted. We stopped each other. We don't want to hear, I'm sorry that I interrupted. No, I encouraged people to interrupt me while I was training. I encouraged people to interrupt me while I was talking. I just asked for somebody to raise a hand so that Tim, who is hearing impaired, could direct his attention to the person that was gonna be talking. That was it. That was the only rule. And I think that that allowed Better connection and better, better transformation of thought and how we operate in our daily lives. So why do you want to do this again next year?

Shay?

I was hoping you wouldn't call me first because I was trying to contain emotion. Because every one of these people here has broadened my family. Each person that was there contributed to changes Tara was talking about. Danielle is like a sister to me. Tara is like another sister to me. And Tim was like a brother to me. And I enjoyed all the time that I had with each person one-on-one. The roommates that I had, they were terrified to be my roommate because they didn't know me. And We took a very awkward moment and we joke about it now. We can laugh about it now. And they are the sweetest people ever. It was so fun to get to know new people. Why would I do it again next year? Because I would like to have a bigger family. I would like to get to know more people. And I think the most joyful part of this whole thing is being able to see light bulbs go off for people. You know, or asking questions in the training, and we can give them an answer that they have been searching for or looking for. I have enjoyed getting to know Tim and learning more about the Deaf community, and it's brought a new passion in me to want to learn ASL because my son was taking it for the last 2 years in high school. It brings back all those things with each of these people that were in the group. And it's brought back joy, the joy that we kind of lost, I think, with trying to fit in and do stuff. And it's been so fun to come home. And I will say that when people ask me, where have you been? And I told them, oh, we went to Disney World with 11 neurodivergent people, and their faces are like, oh my gosh, how did you handle that? I'm like, well, we had a great time. We dealt with meltdowns, we dealt with overstimulation, we dealt with all of it. But we dealt with it in a way of not a condemnation or judgment. It was more of, come on over here. Let's, let's do this together. Here's some pixie dust, you know, where we had our little handout things that we could give people to smile and to have joy. You know, seeing little kids who were so tired standing in line and I'm like, hey, do you like stickers? And their face lights up over something very small and simple, but that's the same for all of us too. Our face lights up. I mean, if I'd go to Tara and be like, hey, Tara, you want some stickers? I'll mail them to you.

She'd be like, yes.

Yeah, those things that we were able to share with others to give them a moment of joy that we got to see again and be able to have again. So literally yesterday I was working on flower beds, had my Disney music on in my ear, and I was kind of singing out loud and dancing around, and I didn't care. Because that brings me a little bit of joy. And so I think, why do I want to go back next year? Because I have to. Because I need that. I need that to fill back up. And if we could do it more often, that would be great.

But we're working on that part. So Tim, why do you want to do this again?

I think I can perfectly piggyback off of what Shay just said. I think anybody, everyone here can agree that those that really put their authentic selves forth In this week are the ones that got the most out of this week. And so, you know, based upon that, we now have a family, as Jay said, that is bigger than the family that we had before the trip. And now I want to give that to other people as well. So we know that we can build off of this. Well, next year we can really try to emphasize that, hey, you can sell, just be yourself. Just, just be your authentic self. Let's support each other in this and grow that family. Because that's right here with 4 people here are the end result of, of really doing that. Like truly doing that. We know each other pretty well as a result of that. So, you know, we got some challenges that we went through as well. And so I want more of that. I want to, I want a bigger family at Shea's side. I want more people to feel what we felt.

Absolutely.

Tara? Well, I think mimicking both Shea and Tim, everything that they said, yes, yes, and yes. And I think for me, why do I want to do it again? Because I also have to, you know, because this is now a part of me. Like I said the other day, like for the rest of eternity, you know, like a week in May is going to be dedicated to this because it is so important. And not only was it a reset to be able to come home and have all of these pieces of myself unlocked, I think it was a reset to just my entire mentality. And I think Every year it's going to continue to be that. And our family is just going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. And the connections are why I want to do it again. Because how can I pass up not seeing the 3 of you in person again? Like, you know, I can't. There was just so much, you know, and it was so healing in so many ways also, you know, to get hurt. on my— on, on the trip and to have people come to my aid and to help me and like without me even having to ask, I think just shows the, the type of people that the 3 of you are. And we need more of the 4 of us in the world. You know, we need more people like us. So that's why.

Watching people connect and build amazing friendships. And watching the follow-up for me is so huge. I'm watching people— we had a core group, but we have people that were kind of on the fringes of that who are now putting themselves in that core group because they missed some of that because they were struggling or whatever, and connecting and wanting to be a part of everything that went on and wanting to do it again next year and sending me Venmo before I even have a sales page set up.

To—

For next year. And I'm like, I had to do 7 refunds on Venmo for people who want to go next year. I'm like, no, we have to do this the correct way because this is a business thing and I need you to do it the right way. They're like, but I want to make sure. And I'm like, I'll have it up next week. Good Lord, give me a couple of days, people. But that type of excitement, because the connection was so deep and so amazing, this is way more than even I thought could possibly happen with something like this. And I know I've done deep trainings. I've gone to trainings that are 3 weeks long where you're with a core set of people for 3 weeks and those friendships last forever. And it's been 16+ years since I did that 3-week training that my husband and I did. And I'm still friends with some of those people. I want that. And it's been 16 years. I want that for us. And I want us to build a stronger, more accepting neurodivergent community because the neurodivergent community eats itself sometimes. Politics did not even come into it. 3 days of zero politics, zero. We all have different views and we all have different things. Some of us are Christians, some of us are not Christians, some of us are atheists, some of us are anti-whatever and hate this and don't like that. And not one of those things even was part of a conversation even once the whole entire trip. And in our world that is so volatile right now, that's so important. And again, growing that family. Can you imagine 16 years from now still going to Disney for a week in May? How much joy does even thinking about that bring? Extreme amount of joy. And, and, and Disney is generally in the neurodivergent community, our happy place anyway. We can let go, we can have fun, we don't, we can act like a kid. And there is so much to be said for being able to play together. forms much deeper friendships and transformations in, in your own personality and to others around you when you can play together. It is so important. And we are working out ways to even have more fun next year and play more next year and do more things next year so people don't feel excluded even if they have high anxiety or introverts or things like that. We want to create more of that for next year. So now, this wasn't all rainbows and roses and pixie dust. It wasn't. We had some issues. Poor Tara tore something in her knee and ended up in a wheelchair the last day, which meant an ER visit or after-hours visit and all kinds of stuff. And we had people who just had a hard time connecting because it was difficult for them. We had some of that, but we found a way through. And even Tara and I told a whole entire huge group of people it was totally fine to leave the 2 women in wheelchairs all by themselves. And had this wonderful thought that we could still explore in Epcot by ourselves. I am so glad nobody was recording that.

I wish it was recorded.

We had other issues, especially some accessibility issues. Tim and I obviously being the two that experience the most. But for those that don't know, I have MS and get exhausted really, really easily and have a lot of muscle fatigue and stuff. So I'm in a wheelchair. 90% of the time. It was that 10% of the time that got me in trouble and it gave me some issues with somebody. And Tim, being hearing impaired, had some issues. So Tim, I want you to talk about some of the issues you had because I want people to know that we were watching for these things and we were there to make sure that everybody on our team was supported, that was attending, was supported in every single way possible. But Tim, please explain some of the issues that you had and some of the solutions that we are presenting to Disney now because of it to try to overcome anybody else having these issues?

So first of all, I have to mention and give a special shout out to Tara for helping me through this just naturally and organically. But yeah, so being deaf, you know, sometimes when you're on some of these rides or attractions that have the animatronics, you know, the robots, obviously I can't read their lips to see what they're saying and see the dialogue back and forth. And some of the other rides that included You know, like Disney does a really good job with entertaining people while you're waiting in line and the lead-up to the actual ride itself. But some of that involves dialogue with characters. So like in Guardians of the Galaxy, you have some of the characters that are just going back and forth talking about the ride and the fact that we're going into the portal and space and all that. I didn't understand any of that. I know Shay had mentioned that she also struggled with it as a hearing person. So it's not just me. So, you know, Tara came up with the app, one that I was actually familiar with but just hadn't used in many years. And, you know, it's improved since the last time I used it, called Ava, that allowed to help with some of that but wasn't perfect, but it definitely did help. And that's one thing that we hope to really get Disney's attention in regards to. I know that there are technology platforms out there that can address that that are very inexpensive, very accessible. Because Disney does provide accessibility, but it's a little difficult to get to that accessibility. And there are things out there that can really help with that. So we've emphasized in some of the other conversations that we've had that we don't want to complain without presenting solutions. We had them. But there were definitely some things that they could have done better. And we hope to have some conversations with them about that.

Now, for me being in a wheelchair, a lot of it was ableism was the issue that I ran into. We had a bus driver our first morning as a large group got semi-mouthy with me. And then that set off a whole entire— so, so something to know about the neurodivergent crowd, the sense of justice for neurodivergence is huge. The 11 other people with me were fuming more than I was upset, but they were fuming about how I got treated by somebody. And there were a few other things being in a wheelchair that just weren't as accessible. And I keep saying, hey Disney, outside of Pop Century, I was in the '50s building. Please get rid of that cobblestone. Good Lord. Anybody who walked next to me, I was about lost every— everything in my bag and my lunch and everything else because of how bad it jiggles. And I kind of joke about that a little bit, but things like that are important to those of us in wheelchairs, to accessibility. Was it inaccessible?

No.

Was it comfortable and easy for me? Absolutely not. The bus situation. I talk about the bus driver that gave me a lot of issues, and, and I think almost everybody that could figure out how to report this poor woman reported her. And Disney— I will give it to Disney— Disney messaged me back. Disney's chat feature inside of their app for problems like that was fantastic. If you ever have problems at Disney, please use the chat app in the Disney Experience app. They were amazing and fantastic about letting us know. And it's not that I wanted this woman to get fired. Or anything like that. I just wanted her to be better trained because I will tell you, if that would've happened to me in my last trip when I was just learning to adjust to being in a wheelchair, it would've ruined my whole entire trip. I would've been in tears for hours because it was— she attacked me. And we want to prevent things like that. We want to change those messages. And as a neurodivergent crowd, we notice anytime there was ableism or anytime somebody was Giving us attitude or anything like that. You want to know how little attitude we got while we were in Disney World? You want to know how much acceptance? This is not something— as somebody who has now worn this t-shirt with what's on the back of it, and I'll tell you about that in a second, out in public here, I've got eye rolls, I've gotten serious, I've gotten all of these reactions. You want to know what I didn't get in Disney? I got hugs. I got Parents coming up and saying, thank you. We had— I don't remember who said who had— I think it was Rebecca and Amy had a woman just cry, that's me. Thank you for doing this. We had a little boy that we ended up talking to that was hitting on a few of us in the pool. And when I say a little boy, he was like 7.

So cute.

But we ended up talking to his mom for like 2 hours because she just loved the fact that others were doing that. That's what we got. And what the back of these t-shirts say that say ND Out Loud is unleashing my ADHD and autism superpowers. ND Out Loud and Disney taught me how. And the reaction that we got, and my shirt doesn't look as pink as everybody else's, but these are bright stinking pink shirts and we were easily spotted everywhere in the park. And I will be buying this color t-shirt for everybody next year for every single day because then I don't lose all of the neurodivergent people with no sense of direction in the park. First of all, I had one person call me or text me and wanted to know how to get to where we were, and she couldn't explain where she was because her— she was so overwhelmed that her executive function didn't work. And I, I could post in one of the Disney groups and say, if you see the woman with the bright pink shirt, please send her to the France Pavilion at Epcot so that she gets to where she needs to go. I guarantee you she would have gotten to where she needed to go. But knowing things like that and having so much acceptance in Disney, so much acceptance in Disney— we had an experience, uh, Shay, in Tara, and I think Parker was with us. We were at the Edna Mode Experience. And the Disney cast member who was part of being with the photographer and being with the character had so much fun with us. We ended up recording videos and so many extra pictures than you normally get in a character. We had so much fun. And then she came outside and followed us outside to talk to us for 10 minutes. She was amazing. And that is why we do it at Disney World. That is why we do that. Anything else that you want everybody to know about Disney World next year? Why, why, why, why, or what, or anything you want them to know before we close out today, guys?

Touching on the accessibility piece, you know, as was mentioned earlier, you know, I tore something in my knee while I was there and being in a wheelchair on the last You know, I've seen, you know, Danielle, not only from your perspective and the things that you struggled with at Disney, but also, you know, when I've gone with my mom, she's been in a scooter. You know, I have 2 special needs siblings and they all had different mobility devices. And so I've seen, I've seen some of these challenges at Disney, but to actually experience them myself was a very different perspective. So. To be sitting in a wheelchair and the frustration of, hey, no, but knowing somebody is pushing you in the heat, but also knowing that, you know, they had a choice to do so. And if they didn't want to, they wouldn't have done it. So I was super appreciative for that, which is also growth on my part. But the frustration of people not moving out of the way. You see a wheelchair coming, you see a scooter coming. And, you know, if you're going this way, you're walking on the right. The opposite direction, you're walking on the left. People just don't have any sense of direction and they're just weaving in and out and everybody's on their phones and they're intoxicated or they're talking or they're just congregating in the middle of streets. And, you know, it's frustrating to be the one pushing the wheelchair.

I know.

'Cause I heard it. But also to be the one sitting in the wheelchair and the rage of like, like, just move, you know? Then to be in lines and them say, fill in all of the available space. Well, the lighting in a lot of these rides is dim to begin with. So you run into people's ankles without even meaning to because nobody's looking where they're going and the lighting is so dim. To even maneuver things. And—

I actually got hit in the face on that last ride that we went on because people were so worried about getting to the same exact spot I was at in this room. People were hitting me and shoving, trying to shove me almost out of my wheelchair to get to some spot when you could have just waited half a second. I was moving.

Right.

And things like that. And part of that is people are just In Tidal, I think. And I was so afraid of running into somebody. I was in a power chair, so my brakes actually aren't as good as somebody in a manual chair. You had somebody pushing who could stop you dead. I can't do that in a power chair. And I was so afraid of hitting people. Poor Tim got hit a couple times. I chose to hit him instead of other people because I was really trying not to hurt somebody else. Sorry, but it—

You said the S-word.

But I do feel bad that actually hitting— I know I hurt him a couple of times. That's something to apologize for. But it's people being aware. There needs to be more awareness. Yes, Shay?

I was going to say, it's a big part of it, especially in Disney, is everybody's excited. Everybody wants to get to everywhere. The unawareness is really huge. And I will say that if there is a way of creating Some type of lane, you know, like we have bike lanes on the road. Is there some type of lane that Disney could create not to make things worse or to inhibit people walking, but to allow people on wheels, whether they're in motorized, they're scooters, they're being manually pushed, to be able to get through there? Because there were many times that we were ducking and weaving and—

Mm-hmm.

We were doing that not because we wanted to be rude and like hurry out of the park. It was because we had a lot taller people. I'm only 5'2, so a lot of times people didn't even see me. They were looking right over my head. And then you have Tara in front of me in the wheelchair and she's sitting lower, so nobody sees her. And so there's a lot of that, that issue that we have that we didn't get to take care of getting to where we wanted to go. And I mean, I accidentally ran over somebody's foot, not on purpose, but we were in the middle of having through that dim place that we were in. And thankfully his friend's like, he has another one. It's okay. But I still felt bad. He literally said that. But, you know, is there a way that we can have that to create safety more so than anything? Because there were times, like you said, Danielle, you had to like slam on your brakes because there was a little kid that ran in front of you. Or somebody just wasn't paying attention. They were unaware of what was behind them or around them. And so that's something that, you know, that was probably the, the one thing that I worried about with pushing her around in the wheelchair. Not so much like anything else other than I don't want to dump her because I got to stop quick and she falls out or things like that.

I'm sick of that. But yeah, being pushed in a wheelchair would— I was on that last ride, I was literally worried I was going to get shoved out of my chair. A couple times. And there's no reason that, like, for— To get— and you want to know what the funny thing is, is there's on the ride, there is an ideal spot to be on the ride. And that is in cart 9, which I did not know this until afterwards. And you want to know where everybody else ended up? Not in cart 9. Where did I end up? Cart 9. Running me over and hitting me in the face and all of that got you nowhere. And I got the ideal spot. That's cool. I didn't know that was a big deal. I've learned since that my son was like, oh my gosh, you got the best— I'm like, whatever. But reminding people that hurrying is not doing anybody any good and just being aware of surroundings. And I think Disney needs to do a better job of reminding people of that.

Don't hurry.

Enjoy your time. But also reminding ourselves as adults that there are other people involved and there are other people around you and pay attention to your surroundings. I think that's really important. The biggest thing I want people to take away from today's conversation and any other conversations that you hear and see us having about Disney is if you're neurodivergent or live with a neurodivergent or have a neurodivergent child, first, if you have a neurodivergent child, you 99% chance you are neurodivergent too, even if you haven't figured it out yet. Um, second, come join us.

Come learn.

Come see how to let go and just be, because living out loud is what— why we do this, because it is so important for us to connect on every level and to find joy in everything we do. And that's what Disney did, is it brought joy. And everybody even talking about next year is already bringing people joy to talk about next year. And what they're going to do and the souvenirs they're going to buy and where we're going to eat. And like the conversations already about next year are so deep and we're sending each other TikToks and things about next year constantly. So come join, come join us and you can join in this community now. We have a daily option for daily coaching and daily community that you can develop now. Just reach out to us, ask us those questions. We are available every day of the week for you to get the connections that you need today. If you have any questions, if you want to learn more about Disney, we'll have links below. Just let us know. And if you find us online, you see any of these t-shirts out in the wild, we'll take a hug anytime. Have a good one, everybody.