Now, turn the question around. How do those theme parks name you? That is, who are you allowed to be once you enter the magic of a theme park?
What is a theme park?
It is first a park. Extent and boundaries define a park. A park occupies space in a particular location. Unlike a nomadic circus or a traveling carnival it has permanence of place. We go to a park.
A park is a physical space that can be marked. Parks create frontiers -- the contrast between "inside" and "outside."
The frontier is also a psychological and social space, as anyone who lives near a national border, knows. Reality changes somehow when we cross a frontier or when we pass into a park.
The tension between inside and outside creates anticipation for the traveler - a spirit of pilgrimage that can only be satisfied by arrival at the goal. For the traveler with a disability arrival may not be easy - and it is most likely only the start of new kind of tension.
This fact is captured in the title of the very first study in English on the travel behavior of consumers with disabilities. The article, "From Anxiety to Access" by Simon Darcy of Australia, launched the field of inclusive travel as a topic for academic study in the English-speaking world.
Simon revealed to the travel industry what those of us with disabilities who travel want as consumers. We want exactly the same thing that other travelers want! That is not a difficult concept - "exactly the same thing." As visitors to a theme park we want to be "inside." We want the magic to work on us.
The psychological-social definition of "inside" changes depending on the type of park. So, let's consider the varieties of park - park typology.
Kinds of Parks
One type of park may be offer nothing more than the features of its location.
These parks exist to guarantee access to some location that is often entirely natural. The site may be only slightly modified for human use if at all. Once inside the park boundary we move in order to observe nature. Examples include:
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