Boy, 8, with autism denied entry to Southwest Airlines flight out of Chicago O’Hare airport: family

His mother advised WJDT he was discriminated in opposition to by a gate attendant who was involved he would not be capable to hold a masks on in the course of the flight.

“I am right here with out my buddy, each of my buddies,” Megan Kitze-Ward mentioned on Fb Reside Tuesday night time from her lodge room in Punta Cana, recapping the nightmare journey expertise that left her husband, Matt, and 8-year-old son, Max, behind.

“And all she stored saying to me was, ‘I do know autism and I am unable to assure that you’ll be protecting that masks on him,’” Kitze-Ward recalled.

Kitze-Ward mentioned she feels Max was discriminated in opposition to for his incapacity, one thing that Gerald Hay says can occur extra usually than individuals assume. Hay works with of us with disabilities every day.

“What we discover is, a variety of instances, it is extra of simply an consciousness challenge,” mentioned Hay, director of unbiased residing companies at Unbiased First.

He says many conditions just like the one skilled by the Ward household may be prevented.

“You do not have to be an skilled or be capable to accommodate specifics,” Hay mentioned, “when you strategy issues as we wish to be as accessible and as inclusive as doable and that is the place a variety of these frustrations are available.”

“I need this to by no means occur to a different household once more,” Kitze-Ward mentioned.

Whereas irritating, Kitze-Ward’s story has a barely optimistic ending: they’re going to get one other probability on the household journey.

“The very very first thing he mentioned to me was, he mentioned, ‘Megan, what I am about to say to you, won’t ever erase what occurred immediately,’” Kitze-Ward mentioned. “He is like I would love to offer your loved ones a redo, I would love to permit you the chance to redo this journey.”

Southwest confirmed the refunds got and that it’s conducting an inner evaluate of what occurred.