The treatment of young people with Down syndrome in the San Vicente bowling alley will reach the Prosecutor’s Office

The association’s director and social worker, Pilar Hernández, points out that it is the association’s “mission” intercede for families, which made the facts known to the entity. Meanwhile, the owner of the establishment explained that the fact-finding continues, that they have apologized to the mothers and that he is extremely upset, as well as that he has been directing the San Vicente bowling alley for 20 years, where children from all the associations come to play bowling, jumping and other entertainment that they offer for free.

The events took place, according to the families’ account, on Saturday during the celebration of the 20th birthday of Juan Camilo, one of the young people with Down syndrome at the Ozone Bowling entertainment venue. He himself went to the counter to buy tickets for the mats «and they told him that he could not jump without being accompanied by his parents. I told them that he is of legal age and that he had the right to enter alone but they indicated that when he suffered a disability he had to access with an adult, “explained his mother, Amparo Gómez, a neighbor of Playa de San Juan. “We consider it discriminatory. The girl said it’s company policy but in sight there are no signs where I put it. I asked for the complaint form and we were all in agreement ». In the area of ​​mats there are signs with the rules of use and one of the points indicates that “children with disabilities must be accompanied by an adult.” The kids who wanted to jump are of legal age.

There were seven young people who celebrated their birthdays at the bowling alley, where they attended regularly, three of them with Down syndrome; at least one young woman with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other kids without intellectual disabilities. The whole group gave up using the mats when they knew the directions for the bowling alley. In the place were some parents and other relatives; and three of the families decided to file a complaint at the same time in the establishment’s complaint book, understanding that their children suffered “unfair and discriminatory” treatment, specifically the mothers of two of the boys with Down, both 20 years old. , and of the girl with ASD, 21, witness to the alleged “Veto” access to the mats without adult supervision.

Expulsion from a pub

The families made the facts known to the Down Syndrome Association of Alicante in case they could be detached judicial responsibilities. This entity already filed a complaint in 2010 against a central Alicante pub after the expulsion of 13 young people with Down syndrome during an outing organized by the association. On that occasion, the manager of the establishment asked the monitors who accompanied the group if they intended to stay long. Upon receiving an affirmative answer, the manager told them that they were going to have to leave. The case ended up in the Prosecutor’s Office, which closed an agreement with the accused so that he would not run the premises for a period of one year.

In addition to Amparo Gómez, mother of the young man who was celebrating his birthday at the bowling alley, Néstor’s mother signed on the MMT claims sheet, with Down syndrome but who, as her mother explains, is completely autonomous how does he prove studying FP and just returned from Slovenia from Erasmus. This neighbor from Mutxamel explained that her son is of legal age and has no limited legal capacity. «With my son there were other friends, some with disabilities and others not. They have only limited access those with physical features of your disability (…) This is pure discrimination and lasts and the most cruel. We have claimed and will undertake all legal avenues ».

Amor Ortega is the third mother who signed the complaint on the claim sheet. In this case, your daughter suffers from autism spectrum disorder. “She went to the mats and came back right away. It caught our attention. They had been told that they could not jump on the mats if it was not with an adult person. He also explained that all are of legal age, none are disabled or physically handicapped. “We decided to file a complaint because it seemed unfair and discriminatory to us. With this we try to prevent things like this from happening again.

The bowling invites the group to enjoy the facilities

The mother of one of the 20-year-olds with Down syndrome said yesterday that the owner and his son have called them to apologize and tell them that they will see which people have acted like this, and that whenever they want they are invited to the establishment, something that moment decline.