Theme parks are designed to be magical, overwhelming, sensory experiences packed with thousands of strangers all trying to have the best day of their lives simultaneously. For most people, that is exactly what they get. For families with children who have additional needs, navigating that environment is a little different.
One grandmother decided she knew better than the parents of one autistic 5-year-old and announced that he just needed better parenting. What she didn’t expect was that her Karening ways would land her in some hot water, hopefully teaching her to mind her own business.
More info: Reddit
Theme parks are magical and overwhelming in equal measure, and for families with children who have additional needs, it can be extra difficult
Image credits: alexandrgrant / Magnific (not the actual photo)
A family with a non-verbal autistic child attended a photo session at a theme park, and the photographer came to the internet to tell people about the world's worst type of Karen
Image credits: New Africa / Magnific (not the actual photo)
After a pleasant shoot, the photographer retreated backstage, where he was soon body-slammed by the 5-year-old, who was frantic and without his parents
Image credits: Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
He tried to calm him down with some dinosaur pictures on his phone until his parents eventually arrived
Image credits: mku018 / Magnific (not the actual photo)
A stranger in the park decided the child's harness was not necessary, and she unclipped him, causing him to go running frantically
Image credits: AQuietBorderline
The meddling woman even slapped a security guard, and quickly got a court order, while the distressed family got an extra day at the theme park for their trauma
A theme park photographer was working with a character one afternoon when a family stopped by for photos. Mom, Dad, and 5-year-old Malcom, who was attached to his mother via a harness. The dad explained that his son was non-verbal autistic and Malcom spent the session showing everyone his book of dinosaur pictures. He was, by all accounts, an absolute sweetheart.
A few hours later, the photographer was heading backstage, an area closed to guests, when he was hit with the force of a small freight train. Malcom, running at full speed, nearly knocked a 6ft, 250lb man off his feet. The child was screaming and crying. The photographer flagged down his manager, called security, and found a cool, air-conditioned space.
He pulled up dinosaur pictures on his phone until Malcom calmed down. Ten minutes later, his tearful parents arrived and explained what had happened. They had been getting ice cream when a woman approached and informed the mother that the harness was unnecessary and that she was simply a bad parent.
The mother explained calmly that Malcom was autistic and would bolt without it. The woman disagreed. When the father returned with the ice cream and the mother turned her attention away for a moment, the woman unclipped the harness and walked off with Malcom into a packed theme park on a scorching day.
The park's cameras caught everything. Security tracked the woman down. She was belligerent and made the inspired decision to slap the security guard who stopped her, which she did directly in front of an Orange County Sheriff. She received a court date for her actions, and Malcom and his family received an extra day on their tickets. All they wanted in return was to see their photographer hero again.
Image credits: Geoffrey Moffett / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
Autism is not caused by bad parenting. Little Rays ABA is unambiguous on this point. Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition with complex genetic and environmental origins, and it has absolutely nothing to do with anything a parent did or did not do. To the contrary, this mom and dad were actually performing exceptional parenting.
Hobbledyhoo explains that harnesses for children with autism and additional needs were created by parents of children with special needs precisely because the alternative is a child who bolts into a crowd and cannot call for help. They shouldn't be seen as restraints, but rather as safety tools designed with care and worn with purpose, and the decision to use one belongs entirely to the family using it.
Links ABA Therapy notes that parents of autistic children develop resilience and confidence in dealing with public judgment over time, and that a simple explanation can sometimes transform that judgment into understanding. This mother tried exactly that. The woman she was speaking to simply decided she knew better, and decided to act on it. Confidence in your own ignorance, it turns out, has consequences.
The photographer who spent his break showing dinosaur pictures to a scared child on the floor of a backstage corridor did more for that family in ten minutes than the woman who decided to intervene ever could have. Some people help. Some people create emergencies and then resist arrest. The cameras got all of it.
How would you have handled this situation? Share your thoughts in the comments!
People in the comments were nothing but kind, sharing equally distressing situations they had found themselves in, thanks to entitled people who wouldn't mind their own business
