Human Rights Violation In Sudbury

Here is a story from TalkSudbury.com. Another reason why we have to keep advocating:

> Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental
> disorder
> that manifests itself in markedly abnormal social
> interaction, communication ability, patterns of
> interests, and patterns of behavior.
>
> Shocked and disappointed was how we at
> TalkSudbury.com
> felt when one of our members sent us this TRUE story
> about the terrible treatment a local women who is
> also
> Autistic received from local retailer, Black Cat
> Too!
>
> I am an autistic adult living in Sudbury, and use a
> wheelchair.
>
> Being autistic means that I have many sensory
> differences, as well as social skill difficulties.
> Thus, when I am out in public I wear headphones all
> the time, in order to deal with the busy world.
> Otherwise would not be able to leave the house at
> all.
>
> Friday March 17th, 2006 after a long workout at the
> YMCA, decided to go to "BlackCatToo" where I have
> gone
> for YEARS to get magazines. In fact it has been the
> only place I ever buy magazines (autistics are
> creatures of habit). I buy Adbusters, Shambhala Sun,
> and some Yoga magazines once a month and when can
> afford them.
>
> This time was actually also looking to see what kind
> of running/triathelon/marathon magazines they had,
> since am training for a marathon and during my
> training period, I have entered many local races to
> raise funds for several non-profit organizations
> locally. I will be pushing my wheelchair through
> four
> seperate 5KM courses between May 2006 and July 2006
> here in Sudbury to raise funds for our local
> charities..
>
> I did NOT touch any magazines, I had NO TIME to,
> before the 'problem' started.
>
> When went in there, turned to the left (where the
> budhist and yoga magazines are) and sat in my
> wheelchair listening to my walkman (which is what I
> ALWAYS do, in EVERY store that have gone in alone...
> am terrified of having the workers at stores talk to
> me, so the walkman drowns them out, and they
> eventually notice the walkman and realize am
> listening
> to music and leave me alone).
>
> Well, very soon after entering (within one minute)
> the
> man behind the counter was yelling the following
> words
> at me:
>
> "I said HELLO to you and I EXPECT my customers to
> SHOW
> PROPER SOCIAL POLITENESS and say HELLO back".
>
> I started to cry. I said I have my walkman on
> because
> i want to drown out the voices of people, because I
> am
> autistic. Talking to strangers sends me into a panic
> and then I need to leave the store.
>
> The man continued and said - well HERE in OUR STORE
> we
> EXPECT people to BE SOCIALLY POLITE and you have to
> say hello back.
>
> I said I am autistic and I have difficulty talking
> to
> strangers and that I fear this means I cannot shop
> here if I have to talk to strangers, all the while
> my
> anxiety increasing as I needed to try to explain
> this
> to the man behind the counter, with the hopes that
> if
> I was able to help him understand my disability, he
> would let me shop there.
>
> To which he replied:
>
> "FINE. GO BE AUTISTIC SOMEWHERE ELSE THEN!"
>
> this incident happened at exactly 11:30 AM Friday
> March 17th, 2006 at the Black Cat Too store.
>
> Now, I fear that I cannot get the magazines that I
> want, because to go to Chapters, I would need a
> seperate Handi-Transit ride booked just for that,
> and
> it would add $4 to the cost of my magazines. The
> Black
> Cat Too was easily accessible from the YMCA where I
> am
> allready 3 days a week.
>
> Furthermore, have always believed in supporting
> local
> independent shops, rather than the big 'box stores'
> like Chapters.
>
> This leaves me feeling very much like I could be
> making a complaint to the Human Rights Commission
> about the fact that the store will not serve
> autistics
> and tells us to "go be autistic somewhere else",
> (which IS a violation of the Human Rights Code under
> discrimination due to a disability).
>
> Now I realize that my magazine purchasing days are
> over, and am going to have to settle for reading
> things online only.
>
> Am very sad about this incident, considering I have
> been a loyal customer of Black Cat Too for a decade
> (since 1996) and this has never happened to me there
> before. I do not understand why they changed their
> policy and expect those of us with communication and
> sensory disabilities such as autism to 'go be
> autistic
> somewhere else' merely because we do not know how to
> be socially polite enough to talk to strangers.
>
> To learn more about Autism please go here and here.
>
> TalkSudbury has communicated to our member that we
> WILL BE purchasing subscriptions to her two
> favourite
> magazines. ON US! Greater Sudbury should rally
> behind
> this individual and voice your collective disgust
> with
> the way she has been treated in her own city.
> Absolutely SHAMEFUL!
>
>
>