Really, legoland? REALLY?

Poor man was turned away because he "wasnt accompanied by a child" Geeze, Legoland, jerk much?

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...-being-refused-8507988#ICID=sharebar_facebook

That is ridiculous. Like, completely.

Ugh. That's horrible.

Now that is just plain stupid.

WTF? Even if he wasn't disabled, I mean, why shouldn't an adult be able to go to Legoland if they want to? That's crazy.

Exactly! Everyone loves legos, why does it matter what age you are?

EH, I dont know. Its a tricky situation. It seems like they DO have evenings available for adults without children and special days can be set up. A lot of childrens places have similar rules in an attempt to keep child predators out. DO I think the rules should likely be bent in his case though, yes.

A lot of places allow kids that I think shouldnt, like bars and even some nightclubs ... yeah ... like there isnt a chance of running into a creep?

Totally different as those places are not set up for groups of kids to explore and play. I bring my kids to bars a lot...they are sitting with me at a table eating dinner.

ALWAYS a chance of running into creeps in the world, even adults who bring children can be predators. BUT yes, in general a lot of child centered places dont want a lot of adults with out kids there....it can get especially bad if you have a lot of college age kids running around too. I personally dont care either way, but I can see WHY they have that rule as they are catering to their base...which is what businesses do

This is also a bit different. This man has the mind of a 7 year old and has to go with a carer. Really he IS a child. Why can't they make an exception and give him a special pass (so that the person letting him in knows its ok) If you are mentally a child you should be allowed to enjoy things that are appropriate to you, like Legoland.

This.

Yep, I agree.

Yes and no. That argument has been used to strip adults with development disabilities of their rights and justify horrific abuses for MANY years, and even goes on today.

They are adults. Someone can have the "capacity" of a 7 year old, but if they're a 40 year old man then they are a 40 year old man, not a 7 year old child.

That said, I do think the Legoland policy should be reviewed. If an adult with a developmental disability wants to go to Legoland, and they are accompanied by support staff that shouldn't cause any problems, but then again there isn't really a way for them to verify that people claiming to have a developmental disability and people claiming to be support staff aren't actually clever creepy people trying to get access to children. So there is that.

Anyway, adults are adults, regardless of their supposed mental age. Lots of developmentally normal adults love legos. Lots of adults with developmental disabilities could care less. And most adults with developmental disabilities still have all the same biological drives to reproduce that everybody else does. For some reason that arbitrary mental age thing also gives people the wrong impression that a child-like asexuality goes along with it too.

If Legoland's policy says no adults unaccompanied by a child, then I think they did the right thing according to their existing policy. If they change it, it's something that should be changed to include all adults with an interest in Legos though. Otherwise what appears to be expanding disability access on the surface is actually perpetuating institutionalized infantilization of adults with disabilities.

I agree adults are adults. However there are differences between developmentally challenged adults and non challenged. Legally.

I don't think people should be stripped of rights. However just like if you have a disability you get special privileges like being able to park close to things etc. I think that people who are on mental par with children should be able to enjoy things normal for them.

The goal of their policy is to protect children so keep that and allow those with chaperones (careres) in. Or have an application process for adults with special needs that can be reviewed.

If this man had been a woman, I wonder if there would have been an issue at all.

An application process for those with special needs, or maybe just an application process for adults regardless. If an adult could pass all the background checks and fingerprinting necessary to work with children, and an adult was willing to do that in order to gain access to legoland without children in tow that seems like it would be reasonable, regardless of whether or not they have a developmental disability.

And it's not the same AT ALL to say these ADULTS are mentally on par with children. It might look like that on the surface, and families no matter how well intentioned they are, are the most notorious for clinging to that fallacy.

My job is supporting adults with developmental disabilities. We don't even use the terms "caregivers" or "carers" anymore because the idea isn't that these are vulnerable children who need someone in authority to care for them, but that they are adults with mental and or physical movement differences who require support to help them integrate into the community, realize their goals, and live more independently.

The notion that these people are just children in adult bodies just needs to die. It's not true in any sense and clinging to it causes a great deal of physical harm to people.

I wonder this, as well. And thats sad if it would make any difference at all