Justice for individuals with special needs

A few weeks ago, an article was circling on Facebook from people in my hometown. The article was titled, “Knoxville Family Upset Over Disabled Son’s Treatment in Store”. Disappointed with such a terribly worded headline, I clicked on the article anyway and watched the news segment. It was on someone I had worked with at camp. His name is Sam, and he is 20 years old and has Down Syndrome. He and his mom were shopping at Stein Mart when they went to try clothing on in the dressing room. Stein Mart doesn’t have a family changing room, and Sam needs assistance with most ADLs, especially dressing. His mom took him in the women’s dressing room with her and he tried on his new clothes. He stepped out to look at himself in the mirror, and an employee began telling him how he is not allowed to be in the women’s dressing room. His mom walked out of the dressing room to see what the commotion was, and the employee told her, “We can’t have him in here. You guys are going to have to go somewhere else”. Sam’s mom was compliant and asked for other options, but the employee only gave the option of Sam going to the men’s side. His mom explained that he can’t go alone, and the employee told her that she would just have to take him somewhere else.

This story was absolutely heartbreaking to me. While Stein Mart’s CEO called the family and apologized, there is still no excuse for this situation to happen. The lack of education that the majority of the public still has on people with disabilities is embarrassing, and only sets these individuals back instead of enabling them. The news is filled with stories of people demanding justice for transgender individuals to have restroom/dressing room rights, but what about individuals with special needs?


Link to the article and video:

http://wate.com/2017/04/17/knoxville-family-upset-over-disabled-sons-treatment-in-store/

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