Dear DQ,
This open letter is to let you know that my autistic daughter was insulted, mocked and experienced defamation of character by some of your employees this evening!!
As I was placing my order, my daughter was ordering beside me as well. How ever cute that may sound (and in my motherly eyes it was cute as well as a huge milestone) it opened her up for abuse by your employees. Because of her infantile autism she has a severe speech delay and speech impediment. For the first four years of her life she was catatonic and we have worked tirelessly to pull her out of her inner world and integrate her into the community. Tonight your employees demonstrated that I need to work harder at educating the general populace!
Tonight as she ordered her ice cream next to me in her broken speech (which sounds like baby babble), one of the workers imitated her sounds in a mocking manner!! Not only was I stunned, but so was her 11 year old sister and father! When I announced we could hear them through the speaker, we heard them burst into laughter. No apology!!
When we pulled up to the window, they didn’t acknowledge the incident at all. I am my daughter’s voice until she finds her own, it is my responsibility to speak up for her rights until she can do so for herself. So I informed the worker that I heard everything through the speaker and that I would like to talk to the manager!! The worker did not deny the incident, and meekly said, “Sorry” as he closed the window. I informed the manager that my daughter is disabled and has a condition called autism. I explained to him what happened and he said he heard laughing but was not aware of what prompted the laughter… he apologized and offered me a 25% discount.
A 25% discount!! Is that the compensation for my disabled daughter being subject to humiliation?
The latest statistic published by the government is that Autism affects 1 in 91 children!! So, to you that means that every 91st kid who comes through your lobby or drive thru is going to be autistic! Your workers must learn not only basic etiquette and common courtesy, but tolerance for those with disabilities. Is it not bad enough we have to fight day and night for the rights of our children with the schools, doctors, insurance companies and politicians… but now with the boys at the local Dairy Queen?
What those workers did was nothing more than bullying and defamation of her character. I have already told many of my friends in the autism community about this incident and many have already said they are going to boycott DQ.
I would like a formal and public apology to not only my daughter, but to the autism community as a whole. And would like to know what DQ as an entity would like to do about this?!?!
Below is the location and information on the order ticket.
Susan Richardson
Dairy Queen
2580 Bethal Road
Columbus, Ohio
Date: October 13, 2010
AIA003984099311
Server 122 Jeffery
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