Maryland family asked to leave Outback Steakhouse because son with special needs was too loud
A Maryland woman was given restaurant credit after she and her family were asked to leave an Outback Steakhouse restaurant by a manager who said her son with special needs was the subject of a noise complaint.
In a post on social media detailing the incident, Amanda Braun said she's not likely to use the credit.
Braun and her family were told they needed to "finish (their) meals and leave" about five minutes after their food arrived at the table, she said in a Facebook post.
Braun's 4-year-old son, Killian, was born with a neurological disorder called childhood apraxia of speech. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, a child with apraxia of speech knows what he or she wants to say, but signals from the brain controlling muscles for speech aren't relayed correctly.
'I would say it again': North Carolina woman used racial slur in viral video confrontation with black women
Bruan told WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., that there was some noise but Killian was acting as he usually does at the same restaurant.
"This gentleman said that he received a noise complaint for my child," Braun wrote on Facebook. "He said that he was very uncomfortable coming to our table to tell us that but unfortunately we needed to finish our meals and leave. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was in total shock!"
Braun's post has been shared more than 3,000 times in about a week.
"As an apology he gave us a $20 (O)utback credit to use at a later date," Braun wrote in her Facebook post. "But needless to say there isn’t going to be a later date. Why would I subject my son and the rest of my family to that type of discrimination? What would ever make me want to return? Would we be asked to leave again if my son were to be loud?"
Closings: Pizza Hut could shut down as many as 500 dine-in locations across US
Bloomin' Brands, which owns Outback Steakhouse and other restaurants, did not respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY on Sunday evening.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Elizabeth Watts, a spokeswoman for Bloomin' Brands, the company apologized to the family.
"The anger has subsided, and I'm left with sadness for my son and his future struggles of being in public," Braun told WJLA.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Outback Steakhouse 'noise complaint' targets boy with special needs
