Family Dollar sued after Down Syndrome group ordered to leave store

[KamaAina]

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/09/17/dollar-tree-sued-down-syndrome-group-ordered-leave/

A 50-year-old Down Syndrome man has sued Family Dollar Stores of Colorado saying he and a group of mostly Down Syndrome disabled people were ordered to leave a Pueblo store because of who they are....

Store manager Valerie McWilliams summarily ordered the group of disabled adults, accompanied by an “activity coach,” to leave the Pueblo Dollar Tree store, 1151 S. Prairie Ave., on Sept. 17, 2014, the lawsuit says....

Just as the group entered the store an employee at the cash register loudly demanded that they leave. The group was accompanied by Pacheco, an employee of Jordan Residential & Vocational Services, Inc., a day care for adults with developmental disabilities. She had just taken the group to a bowling alley....

As Garcia and other disabled people entered the store, McWilliams was waiting on customers at the cash register. According to the lawsuit, as soon as she saw the disabled people enter the store, she put her hand over her mouth as if horrified and exclaimed loudly, “Oh no, you’re not coming in here are you? You can’t come in! You can’t shop here.”

What's next? People with Down's eating at lunch counters?!

[In_The_Wind]

1. Let's hope Valerie McWilliams uses better judgment at her next place of employment.

[roamer65]

2. Full frontal fascism, folks.

Next step in Nazi Germany was murdering them.

Expect to hear a lot more crap like this if the Mango Mussolini steals the WH.

[RKP5637]

4. Yep, exactly my thoughts too. Maybe Trump would find a modern day Josef Mengele to create

the perfect human in Trump's image if in the WH. Trump, is about the most dangerous spectacle I've seen in modern US politics trying to ascend to the WH.

[Journeyman]

3. Wonder what the full story is, given that Corporate is backing the Store Manager . . .

Seems such an odd stance for a corporate legal team to take, in light of established ADA regulations. There also seems to be a lot missing from this account, and some of the local commenters have quite a negative take on the reporter's abilities.

[WillowTree]

6. Yeah. I feel like something's missing here.

I'm wondering if the security tapes might show something these litigants are leaving out.

[Journeyman]

7. I wonder if there may be a past history with the group. . .

The article doesn't say how many were in the group, only that they were accompanied by a single attendant. That could pose a problem, though I don't see how disruptive the group would be, given they had just left a bowling alley without causing a ruckus. But yeah, there's something missing from this story. As I said above, a corporate attorney wouldn't defend such actions if they had no basis.

Well, maybe we'll learn what happens. If it's like too much of the internet (and the media in general), the tale of outrage will get full play while the explanation is quietly relegated to a quick few paragraphs in the back of second two.

[barbtries]

9. where does the story say that?

the district manager's response to the incident is discussed in the lawsuit. i don't see in this article any indication that the company has responded to the suit.

[undergroundpanther]

5. I am tired of bigots

Bigots against disabled people the mentally ill,trabsphobes etc. Bigots impact my life in ways both overt and subtle they interfere with my safety where I live. And I resent the fuck out of them but what can I do but live my life and hope I'm not victimized . I wish I could stop them but you can't reason with a bigot ,I just wish they'd all just go away,take their cruelty and fists and fear with them,and just go away...

[eShirl]

8. Disgusting!

In my years working with developmentally disabled adults (in a position similar to this "activity coach&quot , in all our outings, we never once encountered anything like this. Holy crap.

[SticksnStones]

10. My brother is Down Syndrome

And while most people go out of their way to be kind and inviting toward him...there are still stories like this that could very well be true on its face.

I could tell you the story of the lady who tried to get my brother fired from his job bagging groceries because she didn't want him touching her food...I could tell you how the manager did in fact fire him until his job coach and the Rose Kennedy Center intervened. I could tell you that story but some might want to insist there's more to it...and that just breaks my heart.

[loyalsister]

11. What a headline!

It's my understanding that journalists are usually expected to use people first language. I know that some people prefer identity first language. But, "down syndrome group" and "down syndrome man" sound truly awful to me.

The cashier's response is disgusting.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Our Friend Is So Afflicted

But, she's very high functioning especially since my wife and her became friends and my wife started treating her like any other person. (Her family did not.)

No way would any business do that to her. She actually has a part time job, and could probably work at most of those places. She works with some other afflicted folks who are far less functional than she, but i can't imagine any of those i met ever being troublesome or disruptive.

The people at the store see her shopping with my wife and they treat her and talk with her no differently than they do my wife.

So, perhaps we have one bad cashier, and one bad store manager here.