1) Introduction

Purpose: document accessibility barriers, discriminatory impacts, and policy/practice gaps—especially for autistic and sensory-sensitive guests—and provide escalation contacts.

Intent: help families decide with eyes open before buying tickets or renewing memberships.

2) Background & Context

Reality check: after the fraud scandal and leadership changes, the guest experience feels tuned for micro-transactions over inclusion. Fraud context: indictments summary (PDF).

3) Policy vs. Practice (Accessibility)

Official “Accessibility” page: columbuszoo.org/accessibility. It says call 614-645-3400 for accommodations; in practice, they’re inconsistently honored or denied.

3.1 ADA Guide: “We Aren’t Trained to Help You” (their words)

From the current ADA guide ADA Rides & Attractions Guide — “May 06” (2025):

Translation in real life: “physically” becomes a shield for not helping at all—even basic human decency. A manager wouldn’t even look at or speak to my autistic son when he bravely asked for his voice to be heard. No “sorry.” No “we’ll do better.” Just unrelated gaslighting about refusing physical cards to a family member with a tremor—and trying to tack on $30 she refused to pay.

3.2 KultureCity Certification: what it actually is

• Venue listing: KultureCity Columbus Zoo
• Training portal (what staff click through): KultureCity Sensory Inclusive Training
• “Required” video: Sensory Inclusive training video (you can just close it instantly). This is not deep scenario training; don’t expect proactive help.

3.3 Timeline & Codified Discrimination

• Older ADA guide had no wristband-only rule for Gold members: June 2023 archive. The accessibility page as of May 6, 2025 reflected the older framing: archived accessibility page (May 06).
• May 12, 2025: Operations Director Sam King emailed: “We will be adding all appropriate information to the Accessibility guide and I appreciate your feedback on that subject.”
• Shortly after, the new guide added: “Gold members are required to wear a wristband to access all rides and attractions. Physical or digital cards cannot be shown at individual attractions for admittance.” — i.e., our request for a real accommodation was turned into a park-wide restriction for everyone.

Training snapshot: an all-staff memo (Aug 13) reminded employees to allow bands affixed to clothing for rides—proof the enforcement is arbitrary. The old physical Gold card never had this problem.

4) Evolv Security Scanners: Separation & False Confidence

• Family split at entry: staff often pull parents through first, hold back strollers/kids, and “re-sequence” families—especially rough for autistic kids.
• False confidence: Evolv has high false positives and lawsuits elsewhere—yet sells the theater of “AI screening.”

5) Digital ID, Tracking & “Sustainability” Spin

• Shifting from a physical Gold card (autonomy) to a phone+beacons model favors marketing/behavior tracking.
• Phones must stay charged—so much for “sustainability.”
• Past data-exposure concerns and vendor “don’t talk about it” directives erode trust.

6) Tyvek Wristbands

• Sensory nightmare for many autistic/sensory-sensitive guests; humiliation during enforcement is common.
• “Conservation” mismatch: non-recyclable, and no guest education about the waste.
• Security theater: easily copied; doesn’t stop “Gold card abuse.”
• Dependency magnified: because the kid must be with the phone (digital tickets) or the adult wearing the bands, Forced digital IDs kill independence.

7) Cashless Policy & Economic Exclusion

• Smartphone & contract gatekeeping: kids can’t just use cash. They’re steered to kiosks/the gate to get a prepaid card—entering a contract—before they can ride (cashless page).
• Minors & liability sleight of hand: “no minimum age,” but only adults can get help; liability shifts to the adult funder—while kids are still nudged to sign up.
• Cashiers removed: some stores are kiosk-only; overspending is easy and refunds are not straightforward.
• Observed exclusion: groups of non-middle-class, non-white, non-rich kids turned away for not having cards—no parent present.
• Cost creep & backlash: penny-pressing jumped from $0.51 to $1.00; community outrage: thread 1, thread 2. State pushback on cashless: Columbus Dispatch.
• Greenwashing & typos: claims about “reducing paper currency” to help the planet while stockpiling Tyvek; and the page literally says “How will does affect my visit…”.

8) Staff Training & Inconsistent Enforcement

• “I technically can’t let you on like that” in one line, total pass for the next group in the same line. Kids notice.
• Refusal to print policies; guests are told to look it up themselves mid-visit.
• Digital friction = longer lines, lost park time, higher stress—especially in heat/crowds for disabled guests.
• Aug 13 memo: staff reminded to allow bands attached to clothing—training clearly lags behind new rules.

9) Day-Ticket Loopholes, “Gold Card Abuse” & COPPA

• Day-ticket (non-Gold) abuse risk: ride operators often don’t verify barcodes; paper tickets get collected and trashed—easy to counterfeit.
• Misplaced enforcement: instead of fixing the broad day-ticket loophole, pressure lands on Gold Pass holders—a much smaller population with far fewer entries. “High abuse” claims don’t track with that denominator.
• Autonomy removed: bands/phones replace the card; kids must stay tethered to the adult wearing/carrying them.
• Children’s data (COPPA) concerns: questions remain unaddressed; attempts at discussion go nowhere.

10) Public Dialogue & Accountability

• YouTube comments off; X/Twitter account private—feedback loop closed.
• Director-level engagement on ADA issues is rare; board materials in the last year have not acknowledged these problems.

11) Contacts for Escalation

• Sam King — Operations Director — Sam.King@columbuszoo.org | 614-724-3749
• Anthony Sabo — VP, Zoombezi Bay & Guest Services — anthony.sabo@columbuszoo.org
• Teresa McIntyre — VP, General Counsel — teresa.mcintyre@columbuszoo.org | 614-724-3786
• Syzy Lucci — Board Liaison — Suzy.Lucci@columbuszoo.org | 614-724-3613
• Tom Schmid — President — tom.schmid@columbuszoo.org

• Jennifer Fields — Director of Communications — jen.fields@columbuszoo.org | 614-645-3579 | Cell 614-595-8989
• Nicole Gomez Racy — VP, Communications & Marketing — nicolle.racey@columbuszoo.org | 614-645-3411 | Cell 614-843-3611
• Tip line tipline@columbuszoo.org — include: “I’ve been discriminated against”, “I have a disability”, “You’ve made the zoo less accessible to me”.

12) Recommendations

• Restore physical cards as an equal option to bands/phones; give disabled kids their autonomy back.
• Fix day-ticket verification at rides (scan/validate) instead of over-policing Gold holders.
• Real accommodations: honor belt-loop/clip use without harassment; stock and proactively offer sensory bags; train for meltdown scenarios.
• Phase out Tyvek (or actually recycle it) and stop greenwashing.
• Accept cash and allow instant cash-out of prepaid balances; stop nudging minors into pseudo-contracts.
• Transparency: publish accommodation request/fulfillment stats; disclose app tracking; adopt privacy-first defaults.
• Entry-flow reform: keep families together through Evolv; stop separating kids from caregivers.

13) Closing

The promise of “EVERY guest” collapses under Evolv-driven separation, band/phone dependency, cashless exclusion, Tyvek waste, day-ticket loopholes (while targeting Gold holders), and inconsistent training. If you’re disabled, low-income, older, tech-averse, or simply expect working accommodations, know what you’re walking into—and don’t be surprised when the “modern” systems feel like barriers, not bridges.