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Friday, July 21, 2017

Family claims Colonial Williamsburg discriminated against son, files lawsuit

NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) -- A couple from Maryland is suing the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, claiming that Colonial Williamsburg excluded their 11-year-old son from an activity during a class trip because of his disability.

The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday on behalf of the family by Stein & Vargas, identifies the boy as "J.D."

The suit says that the boy visited Colonial Williamsburg in May after five years of fundraising and after the class spent a full year learning about Colonial America.

The paperwork states that a highlight of the trip was a visit to Shields Tavern where children got to experience social and cultural life in the British colony. Part of the visit to the tavern included eating a meal, which was where the problem began:

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a parent of a child with Celiac disease, I find this completely ridiculous. It is unfortunate that the parents of this child did not due their due diligence and call ahead about the issue. We have done this countless times and never, ever run into any issues (both foreign and domestic restaurants,taverns,diners, pubs, even home run restaurants in rural America or eastern Europe) We as parents know the repercussions of not knowing the menu or bringing our own food. I can tell you with every ounce of my being that NOT one manager or server/hostess has ever batted an eye at us about this. We have visited Williamsburg and have never run into this, because we made sure it was taken care of before we arrived. We have had to pay a plate fee in many restaurants, but that is what we do in an effort to make our child feel comfortable while out. We have never expected any sort of "special treatment" and never looked at our sons disease as a disability.
I'm sorry to go off on a tangent, but this really gets to me. Shame on this childs parents.

Anonymous said...

9:11- Well worded and bless you for being peaceful and forward thinking. If only the world had more like you. God bless.

Anonymous said...

Pfft. The worlds not a safe place for such a fragile person. Start constrcuting his safe space now.

Anonymous said...

U idiot. Read The article. The father brought food. They kicked this child out for no reason. He was looking for special treatment. He just wanted his son to eat with the classmates. U need to learn how to read.

Anonymous said...

Sticking with the true spirit of the time period they should have just fed the child and let the nature of things transpire. You are so right 1106 no special treatment required. Screw everyone else who was there for the colonial experience. As long as it about you and your specialness coming first.

Anonymous said...

Maybe this was the first time the family has traveled outside of their local community which are accustomed to the child and his family. A thousand other maybe's, it was still a bad decision not to try and accommodate this father and child. I am sure the father would have paid a "plate fee" if it was offered as a solution. But it appears the meal and experience was part of a package deal along with visiting the other places in Williamsburg. If so then the child has paid for a meal he is not eating and therefore Shields Tavern has made a 100% profit from that payment which is Cleary more than enough to cover the cleaning of a plate and silverware. It was just plain shameful what they did. This was no less than saying 'your kind is not welcomed nor wanted in our place of bussiness, kinda like the 'Jim Crow' laws of the past ... "your kind...not here!"

Anonymous said...

People always looking for a pay day.

Anonymous said...

A bit of common sense, along with a tad of compassion, would've gone a loooonng way here.
I think the lawsuit is payback and the price for stupidity, if the article is accurate.

Anonymous said...

1:57 Well maybe they will read the first post and learn something. Then for his 2nd trip, when he saves for the next five years, he will have a good experience. How much are you suing for??

Anonymous said...

Maybe they should have had him sign a wavier. It seems the tavern doesn't want any responsibility if the child or children get sick. But tossing them out was a real bad move.