Man With Autism Allegedly Told 'His Kind' Not Allowed in Restaurant After Incident

The mother of a young man with nonverbal autism says a restaurant manager in Cedar Hill, Texas, told her family to leave after complaints from other patrons on Tuesday night.

Wendy Jackson told WFAA that while eating at Razzoo’s Cajun Cafe with her twins, a manager pulled her aside, asked “what’s wrong” with her son and said customers saw him licking the top of a hot sauce bottle. The manager then allegedly said “his kind” was not allowed in the restaurant.

Jackson says she’d apologized, offered to pay for the bottle and asked if they could finish their meal, but that they were ultimately kicked out.

Razoo’s CEO Jeff Powell told WFAA he was alerted of the incident and is reviewing the allegations but that all people are welcome in the company’s restaurants.

“All I can say is our president is taking the time to fully investigate the incident, and a full response is forthcoming,” a different manager at the Cedar Hill location told The Mighty. “But if you’re asking if people with special needs are welcome at our restaurant, the answer is absolutely.”

Upon hearing about the incident, many customers voiced their outrage with Razzoo’s online.

“You should replace your management and educate your staff. How dare you kick out someone for being special needs,” one person wrote on the restaurant’s Facebook page. “That is absolutely disgusting and completely discriminatory practices.”

“A properly trained manager could have educated the wait staff and customers and had a much more positive outcome,” another wrote. “Ignorance to autism is just unacceptable these days.”