A proposed class action against Walt Disney World Co. pits the desire of the disabled for mobility against the safety of other theme park guests who could be endangered by two-wheeler Segways whizzing around “densely populated areas.”

The Segway, which comes in five different models, can reach speeds of up to 12 miles an hour. According to the suit, “while not initially marketed to individuals who have disabilities,” it is now used by roughly 4,000 to 7,000 disabled Americans, including a “growing number” of disabled veterans of the war in Iraq.

But the device is banned at all four of Disney's theme parks in Florida -– and that policy, the complaint says, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act because it “has the effect of denying full access and enjoyment of the parks to those disabled individuals, like Plaintiffs, who rely upon the Segway for their mobility.”

The three plaintiffs -– one of whom suffers from multiple sclerosis, while another has Lou Gehrig's disease -- find it difficult to walk for long periods, although all can stand.

Under the ADA, a “public accommodation shall make reasonable modifications” in its rules or policies when those modifications are “necessary” to provide access for the disabled. But Disney (NYSE: DIS) says the plaintiffs have not adequately alleged a violation of that provision.

“Nowhere do plaintiffs allege that permitting guests to use Segways at WDW is either 'reasonable' under the circumstances or 'necessary' to afford access to the theme parks,” it says in a motion to dismiss, and they have failed to consider

any safety risks which a “two-wheeled, self balancing transportation device” would pose to toddlers, elderly persons, persons with disabilities, and thousands of other guests moving through Worldco's densely populated theme parks.

Disney also contends a change in its policy is not necessary since the “alternate accommodations” of wheelchairs and motorized scooters are available to disabled guests and it is not “beyond the capacity” of the plaintiffs to use them.

The plaintiffs' case seems to be based, at least in part, on convenience. The rental of a motorized scooter, they say, increases the costs of a theme park visit by more than 50 percent and requires “a long walk” from the parking areas to the place where scooters and wheelchairs are rented.

But in the case of a disabled golfer, the U.S. Supreme Court said a modification is not necessary even when access to the public accommodation may be “uncomfortable or difficult” without it. PGA v. Martin, 532 U.S. 661 (2002). According to Disney, the plaintiffs “always have the option” of bringing their own wheelchairs or scooters or renting them from a business outside the parks.

There is also anectodal evidence that Segways pose a safety risk. The city of San Francisco banned the device from sidewalks after lobbying by senior citizen and pedestrian groups and one contributor to a Disney message board warns, “I can only see abuse, accidents, and larger lawsuits by people injured by the Segways and their riders.”

By Matt Reynolds
2/13/08