Without breaking any confidenced I belong to several Autism Group Websites:of which one of them recently had a post about a Mom who took her 4 year old autistic son to his "favorite place" Applebees as a reward/ She immediately asked the waitress to supply some kind of drink or cracker or snack to "hold"the little one over till the food came-- 10 min went by and nothing -- the child began to cry as food for other tables went by within 15 min the manager came to the table and told the mother he was loosing business and she would have to leave-- Of course that is an editied verson-- The point is that Autistic kids have great social defecits some would argue dont take them to restaurants but would you not take some one who had cancer to a restaurant? No This child needs to be able to integrate into the community and having people who are blind to this type of disability need to get a clue--
This group is circulating a petition and writing to the corporate offices and I hope they suceed for the desired outcome which is NOT to burn bridges but to build them--- for the time being Applebees needs to know that we area force to be reckoned with and they need to educate their managers and staff how to accomodate ALL GUESTS.
I hope any of you who read this will remember that sometimes what you see is not necessarily what you get-- there is a fine line between a child who is just out of control and. the parents dont have a handle on a child OR the child who has a disability that prevents him from understading his surroundings and the parent is trying every trick in their tool belt to assist the child to be "normal"
Cooperation by businesses especially restaurants allows a child to desensitize his enviroment so he can spend his money at that particular business-- Believe me I have left several LARGE tips to staff that is accomodating and helpful to my plight.
All I can ask is no matter what situation you are in Stop Lookand Listen for just a minute before you jump to a conclusion You never know when you will have the opportunity to make a better day for someone who faces challenges every hour of everyday-- Something that most of you DONT!
1 comment:
I'm never eating at Applebees again.
I don't appreciate discrimination in any form-what if the child were on an airplane? Would they have asked them to leave? How can we gain access to this petition? I'd like to sign.
Maybe next it will be no overweight people are allowed to eat there, or no elderly cuz they eat too slow & hold the tables, hey- how bout...no children at all cuz they can all be a little disruptive at times-and let's stop all sales of alcohol too cuz "one too many" can certainly offend Mr. & Mrs. Christian sitting at the table next to them-and certainly no mentally challenged people should ever be seen in a public restaraunt, they may drool or drop food or even....GOD FOrbid, chew with their mouths open!! Okay, maybe these things sound drastic but wait....let's ask the smokers if they feel these things could happen.
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