Get ready to lose a little more faith in humanity. A blind man has shared a shocking story on TikTok describing being kicked out of a Seattles restaurant after a member of staff refused to believe he was actually blind.
Some people just don’t understand the importance of dogs. In this case author and illustrator, Paul Castle and his guide dog Mr. Maple entered a restaurant and were immediately met with a skeptical employee who informed Paul that the establishment had a no-pets policy, unless they;re service animals.
Paul explained that Mr. Maple was indeed a service animal even showing the employee the very big, very obvious harness that says “guide dog.” Despite that the man refused to believe him, and he even had the nerve to say “you don’t look blind,” what does that even mean? How can someone look blind? Maybe if he showed up in Daredevil cosplay the guy would’ve believed him.
Hearing Paul recount his ordeal is infuriating, especially when the powertripping employee threatens to call the police if he dares to set foot in the restaurant again. Despite his shocking treatment, Paul’s attitude in the video is very mature, much more mature than I would have been, he doesn’t even name and shame the restaurant despite comments asking him to.
Pretty sure if you name the restaurant all the Seattle baddies with service dogs will congregate
Don’t be shy, tell us what the restaurant was called
NAME THE RESTAURANT!!! I’m in Seattle!!
A day later we got an update from Paul as he said he went back to the restaurant to speak with the manager. He clarified that he had no intention of pressing charges and he didn’t want the employee to lose their job. He was able to get a full apology from the manager as well as the individual who accused him of being a liar in the first place and he even got a “very generous” gift card for the restaurant. What viewers really want to know though, is if Mr. Maple got a full apology too.
As Paul explains in his second video on the matter, the issue comes down to a lack of awareness surrounding the spectrum of blindness. Apparently the reason the employee didn’t believe him was because he was able to sustain eye contact, this is because Paul has some functional vision, “I have a pinhole of vision,” meaning his vision is incredibly limited but he can see somewhat. 93% of people who are blind have some form of functional vision, but most people assume you either have full vision or no vision.
I think most people want things to be black or white. If you have a disability they want it to be the version that they’ve seen represented in movies.
It’s good to know that Paul got his apology in the end, although his story demonstrates how important it is to be informed about what certain disabilities can look like, because they don’t always fit the stereotypes mainstream media has created.
