First transplants, now hair cuts? More special needs discrimination...
Posted Jan 26 2012 11:39am
Earlier this month I wrote about a little girl , who happens to be mentally impaired, being refused a life saving kidney transplant. The most recent incident of discrimiation against a mentally impaired person that I have become aware of happened locally, and for an ordinary service, but is also very disappointing.
Our local newspaper, The Morning Sun , publishes a Sound Off column. In Wednesday's edition , a call was published that stated that a mentally impaired adult had been refused at our local SmartStyle salon, which is inside our WalMart store. Calls were made by a fellow special needs parent to the salon, and it was confirmed that is their policy, that they can refuse someone with special needs.
I'm having a difficult time wrapping my head around this. A child can be a challenge to give a haircut to - do they also refuse children? Would they refuse someone who just appeared to be a difficult customer, since they judged on appearance alone that this special needs gentleman would be too difficult to give a haircut to?
Simply put, this is wrong, and it is discrimination. A special needs child or adult should be able to do something as simple as getting a haircut without being made to feel like he or she is less of a human being.
If you agree with me, I ask that you help me take action. The customer service contact form for SmartStyle is here . Ask them about their policy regarding refusing their services to the special needs community. If you do receive a reply, please comment here and keep me (and others) up to date. Thank you!
Our local newspaper, The Morning Sun , publishes a Sound Off column. In Wednesday's edition , a call was published that stated that a mentally impaired adult had been refused at our local SmartStyle salon, which is inside our WalMart store. Calls were made by a fellow special needs parent to the salon, and it was confirmed that is their policy, that they can refuse someone with special needs.
I'm having a difficult time wrapping my head around this. A child can be a challenge to give a haircut to - do they also refuse children? Would they refuse someone who just appeared to be a difficult customer, since they judged on appearance alone that this special needs gentleman would be too difficult to give a haircut to?
Simply put, this is wrong, and it is discrimination. A special needs child or adult should be able to do something as simple as getting a haircut without being made to feel like he or she is less of a human being.
If you agree with me, I ask that you help me take action. The customer service contact form for SmartStyle is here . Ask them about their policy regarding refusing their services to the special needs community. If you do receive a reply, please comment here and keep me (and others) up to date. Thank you!