Restaurant Owner Tries To Refuse Service To A Blind Man Because Of His Guide Dog
It's his civil right.
TikTok Several years ago, a blind man recorded a video of an incident that occurred to him when he decided to go out to a restaurant with his wife and his service animal, who acted as his guide.
The video has caused outrage after going viral due to the cruel way the former restaurant owner behaved towards the man and his service animal.
The restaurant owner tried to deny the blind man service because of his guide dog.
“I don’t see why I have to do this,” the restaurant owner said, walking over to the table where Antonio Fett, the blind man with his guide dog, was sitting.
“Because it’s my right,” he replies, prompting her to also say that it’s her right to ask him “to please just get on the porch.”
The woman doesn’t want the service dog inside her restaurant and is causing a commotion as the man, who is blind and requires a service dog to help guide him, refuses to leave.
Seemingly aware of the laws surrounding the use of a service dog, the owner asks him what services the dog provides — as some patrons with certain service dogs can be denied entry/service.
“Medical alert, mobility, and guide,” Fett explains. The man is legally blind, with one eye missing and a second one that doesn’t function at all, so he cannot be denied service or entry for his guide dog.
“Mobility and guide, if the dog is with you it can guide you out the door and it can be medical alert and mobility right out there too,” the owner rebutted.
“I know you’re taking the stand and that’s great and hurrah for you,” she adds, but she claims it is her “civil right” to not have a dog in her restaurant.
“It’s a service dog so you do not have the right to say no,” Fett tries to tell her, but she refuses to listen.
She says “I don’t need this today,” fed up with the man’s refusal to leave, and then tells the people preparing his food to make it “to-go.”
The people in the comments were appalled by the woman’s behavior.
Fett had originally recorded the video years ago, uploaded it recently, and then re-uploaded it with the name of the business censored because “the new owners are being unfairly harassed and threatened.”
However, the anger and rage continue to be expressed in the comments of the newly posted video.
“I’m so allergic to dogs I look like Hitch when my friend's dog licks me. I go into anaphylactic shock,” one commenter wrote, implying that they have actual reasons to not want a dog near them. “I wouldn’t even imagine acting like this.”
“It's actually not her right and it's absolutely disgusting that she would act this way,” another commenter wrote.
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is illegal to discriminate, segregate, or deny service to anyone because of a service animal.
It is not within the owner’s rights to kick Fett out, nor force him to take his food and leave the establishment.
Commenters that were curious about the resolution to the incident asked in the comments, and Fett promptly replied.
“I left and filed a complaint with the state,” he said. “In the end, she had to sell the restaurant.”
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.