Walt Disney World is the Most Magical Place on Earth due in large part to the work of the incredible Cast Members who call it home. The Disney Parks Blog shared a story of inclusion and passion for one Cast Member in particular.
- Christian Miranda began working on Batuu in June of 2021 as a busser at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo.
- The longtime goal for Christian, who is Deaf and has a visual disability, has always been to become a chef.
- Today, he is serving as a cook at Docking Bay 7, which can be found in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
- Disney credits Miranda’s success to his passion and his team’s determination and efforts towards inspiring a culture of belonging.
- Chef Jerry Gonzalez, a former leader at Docking Bay 7, explained that Christian’s leadership found creative ways to help him transition into the kitchen:
- “From basic kitchen safety to communicating orders by creating a system that uses pictures, a lot of the actions we’ve taken to accommodate Christian are new. It’s been a great learning experience for the leaders, but also for the rest of his team. You can tell that they really want to see him succeed.”
- Many members of Christian’s team have learned basic American Sign Language to be able to interact with and get to know Christian better. Miranda explained what that experience has been like:
- “At the beginning, I had an interpreter with me as I got to know the team. Shortly afterwards, we were able to move on without one. Of course, there were some challenges at first with communicating smoothly, but the team quickly became like a family to me. The team is definitely my favorite part about working here. Establishing relationships with them has made this a special experience.”
- Executive Chef David Njoroge explained that Disney was also looking into different resources and technology to aid in Christian’s professional development.
- “Our team reached out to vendors to see if there were any pieces of sensory technology or equipment that Christian could use to continue learning. Disney is a place where everyone is welcome, so it was important for us to look at how we could establish a program not just for Christian, but for future cast members throughout Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and beyond with sustainable practices.”
- You can meet the team behind Christian’s Disney journey in the video below: