The incident took place on Saturday afternoon when these families and several others were celebrating a birthday at the bowling alley, a place that, according to one of the mothers, they attend regularly. Juan Camilo, who was celebrating his 20th anniversary, went to the counter to buy tickets for the mats, “and they told him that he could not jump without being accompanied by an adult. I commented to them that he is of legal age and that he had the right to enter, but they indicated that when he suffered a disability he had to access with an adult, ”his mother, Amparo Gómez, a neighbor of Playa de San Juan, explained yesterday. “We consider it discriminatory. The girl said that it is company policy but there are no signs where she puts it, it does not appear anywhere. 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.” In this case all the kids they are of legal age. According to the mother of the boy who was celebrating his birthday, he and another young man with Down syndrome, Néstor, were the ones who wanted to go to the mats, although there were more at the party, and the girl with ASD heard what happened and told her mother. “Everyone found out that they were not allowed access to the mats and that is discrimination”, Amparo Gómez stressed. None of them, they said, suffer from any physical problems.
Amor Ortega, mother of Esther, 21, who according to her mother has an autism spectrum disorder, related that her daughter went to her birthday because Juan Camilo is a friend and classmate. «The mother of the boy who had his birthday told me what had happened, that if it was not with an adult, they could not get on the mats. None of them are legally incapacitated. We went to claim to see what had happened and they told us it was company policy, which, without adult supervision, they could not access. They are all of legal age, none are disabled nor do they have physical handicaps. 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. Although it was a larger group, as they were not allowed to use the mats, the others no longer jumped and some parents asked for the complaint book.
MMT, a neighbor of Mutxamel and Néstor’s mother, considers that what happened “is not legal. They judged my son by telling him that, as he has a disability, he could not go up alone. It’s a clear case of discrimination». The woman pointed out that on the mats, on the other hand, there was a young girl without her parents. «Young people of 20 and 21 years old are not going to enter a place like that with their parents, they never do. We put the claim to the company, they said that it is their policy and that they work like that. We went to look for the manager, a lady came out saying that she was responsible at that time and we asked for an explanation. She also wanted to point out that the owner contacted her later “and apologized. I assume you will be investigating. I understand that he is distressed but, as a mother, after all his life fighting for the integration of these children, he cannot allow it. The group was “of about six or seven birthday kids, they had been playing bowling and when they finished having a snack they went around the machines, they saw the area of mats and when they wanted to access they were told no.”
The owner of the establishment, José Antonio Quereda, said that he had spoken with the mothers, excusing himself with them, that they were finding out if the employees had acted outside of the ordinances to take responsibility, if any, and that he regretted what happened. “We are motivated so that everyone is happy in this facility,” he concluded.
“My son has just returned from Erasmus in Slovenia”
«My son goes to a center to study a vocational training and has just come from Slovenia for Erasmus. Take the bus alone. Some of them work. They are completely autonomous, ”stressed MMT, the mother of Nestor, 20, one of the boys who wanted to get on the mats during the birthday party. In her complaint, this mother explained that “my 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 to those who had physical features of their disability (…) This is outright discrimination and the most cruel. We have claimed and will undertake all legal avenues ». Other relatives explained that Nestor travels, he is a great athlete who has won swimming medals and has also starred in musical theater.
www.informacion.es
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.