Autism on the Seas to me is a passion because I want to give families that opportunity to just be a family and just to love on one another and have fun together, have great memories. I'm Welcome back, everybody, this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast. And this evening,

we're welcoming Sandy from Autism on the Seas to chat about sailing with special needs,

children, and adults on Disney Cruise Line. And we'll also touch a little bit on Disney Parks. Sandy has been on 37 cruises with autism on the sea. So she's really experienced with cruises and special needs kids and adults. And so we just wanted to have Sandy on to chat through that. So welcome, Sandy. We're really excited to have you on the show. Well, thank you. It's my honor to be here today. Sandy, I wanted to start off with just a little bit of your normally would start with Disney background, but I think it'd be helpful to frame this first and foremost with what is your background with working with, you know, autistic children, and I assume some autistic adults at this point through the cruise program.

What's your background with sort of autism in the Cs?

That's a great question.

My professional background is I was an elementary school teacher with special needs students in my class and also an assistant principal where I had the opportunity to sit in with

parents and families from kindergarten through fifth grade and help

their students get their services and accommodations that they needed. And I did that for over 33 years.

I also worked with young adults and respite programs through my church. And I've been with autism

on the C, started volunteering with them in 2016.

Let's merge that up for a second with what is your cruising background and then we'll go into

your Disney background. So what is your cruising background? Is it solely with autism on the seas or

were you cruising before? Well, I began cruising my family personally and we've probably taken over 20 cruises ourselves with our family and with my mom.

And we have cruised on Princess, Disney, Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and Regent.

And with autism on the seas, I have had the opportunity to cruise on the Disney cruise line also.

You have an amazing amount of experience then as a personal cruiser and I guess I'll call

you a professional cruiser as well. Can you tell us what your Disney background is?

Well, our experiences with Disney probably gained about 27 years ago when we first took

our son to Disney and we have been going to Disney parks ever since. We have also had two

adventures by Disney coming out to Disneyland, which were fabulous experiences. And we've also had the opportunity to cruise on Disney Magic as a personal family and the dream and the fantasy.

And I am down in Florida as often as I can go because I love going into the parks.

Well, we are jealous because we living in the Seattle area, we do not

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