A BBC journalist said he has “given up asking for equality and respect” after the latest incidence of being refused service because of his guide dog.
Sean Dilley, a transport correspondent with the BBC, said he has experienced such refusals hundreds of times but is now giving up because of “online threats and increasing hostility towards disabled people”.
Sean reported that the last straw came when he visited the restaurant but was told he couldn’t enter as people could have allergies.
“This, by the way, is unlawful,” he said.
“They later changed their reason – saying they simply had no space. It’s difficult to describe how this feels. I don’t think you can understand it unless you know what it is like to face daily discrimination.”
Sean added that after failing to politely persuade the restaurateurs that his guide dog was well-behaved, and then reiterating that it is unlawful to refuse access, he heard one customer voice their disgust at the restaurant’s attitude.
He invited people who had witnessed the refusal to leave a review but then heard two voices from another table saying he “ruined their meal” and should leave.
Sean said: “I felt as small as a gnat.”
He said more customers in the restaurant expressed their shock at the way he was treated, but the episode brought back frustrating memories.
Sean said: “The customers who seemed annoyed sparked echoes in my mind of every occasion I’ve shared refusals to social media over the past eight years. There I’ve faced constant demands to justify why I should want equal treatment and, more perturbingly, threats of violence and even death.
“I have never understood why, when everyone on the planet is one accident or medical condition away from disability, many people seem to lack any empathy and do not attempt to understand how it must feel to be refused service because of a disability.”
