McDonald’s turns away boy, aid dog
The father of a 9-year-old boy with autism was shocked when a McDonald’s staff member refused to serve his family, who were with their muchrelied on assistance dog, because “pets” were banned in the restaurant.
Shane Wheeler stopped at the Bombay eatery on Sunday afternoon to buy his son and 7-year-old daughter dinner before dropping them off to their mum’s house in Kaiaua.
His son Noah, who has autism, was holding the lead of his black labrador, Nitro, who was wearing a grey vest with the words “assistance dog” on it.
The family were standing at a selfserving kiosk placing their order when a staff member said they could not bring pets into the restaurant.
Wheeler pointed to Nitro’s vest and explained he was an assistance dog and an important tool to keep his son calm. But the worker just reiterated to him that pets were not allowed and they had to leave.
“It went back and forward for a couple of minutes and I was just so embarrassed and angry about the whole thing that I just had to get out before I yelled at the guy.
“This guy was adamant that Nitro was a pet and not an assistance dog.”
McDonald’s has apologised, saying the franchisee would be reminding staff of its policy to serve people with registered assistance dogs.
Wheeler said due to Noah’s autism he had a highly restrictive diet and still wanted his chicken nuggets so he bundled the children back into the car and drove to the next McDonald’s in Mercer where he went through the drive-through to order their food.
“I just went through the drive through there. I wasn’t brave enough to go inside, not after all that.
“I didn’t want to go to the next one, but my autistic son wanted chicken nuggets and I had to get over my ego and hurt feelings and do what he needs and makes him okay.”
Wheeler said he was speaking out about the incident because he wanted companies to train their staff to be more aware about abilities and the role of assistance dogs.
Nitro had been with Noah for three years and while they often got asked about him when they were out in public, it was accepted once Wheeler explained his important role in keeping his son safe and calm.
This was the first time they had ever been asked to leave.
Autism New Zealand chief executive Dane Dougan said more and more organisations were adapting to the needs of the autism community, but instances such as what happened to the Wheelers still happened.
“For us it’s all about training and understanding.”
Altogether Autism national manager Catherine Trezona said more education was needed around the importance of assistance dogs for people who had autism.