Can't rep you again, but, this post gave me gooesbumps. It is stories like this that helps me maintain my tenuous faith in humanity.
I agree. Your interaction with your child itself is not our business at all, but... taking a space when he clearly didn't know you could use it... I think that's when it becomes other peeps' business. Nothing wrong with asking, but... what if he asks nicely like "Hey... I'm sorry, but I have to ask, sir... is anyone in your family handicapped for you to be using that space?" and then you also calmly answer "Yes, [anyone in your party] has [any disability/handicap/etc.], sir." and then he answers "Ah, OK. Cool, man." and everything is cool between both of you. Would that be more appropriate? Now, I'm not saying you or your child or family did anything wrong before, now, or in that incident, all I was saying is that it seems more clear when a kid like the one in the restaurant has down syndrome, or when a child is on a wheelchair, or a person with a wheelchair parks in a handicapped person. Physically, it's obvious. That's what I was saying. Clearly, the family who moved in the restaurant behaved extremely insensitive to the child and their family. The waiter risked everything for being proper.
You mean it isn't against the law to refuse service if a person was black? Are whites-only establishments legal?
It is against the law to refuse service to someone and saying that the reason is because they're black, yes sir, but businesses have the right to refuse service to anyone but they don't have to say why. And NO to your second question.
I'm gonna have to disagree. First, it was pretty obvious that something special was going on with my son when I had to go around the truck, open the door, take his seatbelt off, take his hands, position him where I could hold his hands and get the placard. He saw all that before he spoke to me. He should have gone to security and reported the situation if he felt that strongly about it. It was none of his business to bother me since he had plenty of time to observe the situation before he spoke to me. His agenda was pretty clear. Wheelchair equals handicapped parking. Autism equals go park elsewhere. Most people would have told him to **** off for just staring the way he did. Bottomline.... If you think someone is parking illegally go tell security or a cop. Folks have a lot of reasons for parking in those spots. Could be back problems, post surgery or weak from chemo treatment. The state issued them or someone they know a tag and it's not Joe Blow's job to confront people. Doing so sounds like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I am the President of an Autism Support Group and I can tell you not all families want to discuss / debate their child's condition with a total stranger.
