Mom: Autistic son denied haircut at Kennewick JC Penney

My 4 year old autistic son also denied a haircut at one of the local hair salon today ! I feel so upset and humilated, what can I say! just never go there again. Luckily,my son got a haircut at the other hair salon which a block away. I need to start to learning how to cut his hair and cut all this BS out!

There is only one group of people in the US currently that can be abused, exploited, and stripped of their rights, and that is the vaccine injured. If it were a black person, gay person, fat person, muslim or christian person,  any other disabled person, in fact ANY other group, this behavior would not be acceptable. Only with the vaccine injured (what most refer to as autism spectrum) is it generally accepted by society that it's ok.  Not that any American needed to be officially informed of it, but in case they did the US Supreme Court made it official with the Bruesewitz v. Wyeth court ruling.

There is only one group of people in the US currently that can be abused, exploited, and stripped of their rights, and that is the vaccine injured. Not that any American needed to be officially informed of it, but in case they did the US Supreme Court made it official with the Bruesewitz v. Wyeth court ruling.

Shame on you JCP Salon!!! As the mother of a son with autism I can understand where this mother is coming from and I will not go back to a JCP salon until you fix this!!! Shame on  you JCP

I cut hair professionally for over 40 years. I am now retired. One of my greatest joys was a special needs child named Stephen. He did not sit still he was loud and sometimes boistrus, but a purer heart God never gave to any human being. His entire family worked extra hard to make thier life as "normal" as possible. I looked forward to him comming in for his regular hair cut. many of my regular customers met Stephen and NEVER begrudged him the few extra minuets it took to cut his hair. I consider myself lucky for having known Stephen and his family. I learned what love really is from them. To the stylest at J.C. Penny you have lost a golden opertunity. But then again you are a looser.

Free haircuts in August (This post is dated August 4, 2012@0249). With a huge violation of the child's rights, I imagine the company was figuring out what to do from headquarters...others are right education is the key and if the person is too ignorant to understand find another hairstylist.  Did the Nanny complain immediately to the store manager, like I would have done, if my autistic child was refused service?  I would have made a fuss at the time so that there was NO delay in identifying the offending stylist.

My JcPenny's here in Colorado Springs, CO has no issues with cutting my son's hair. I told him he was autistic and she just had to tell him what she was doing and no problem. They did it and he loved it!

I am proud to say that the salon at JC Penny in Westroads Mall in Omaha, NE does not have this problem.  Shannon was very good at cutting my daughter's hair (she has sensory issues and doesn't like her hair even brushed).  She also told me that she has a few regulars that happen to have autism. My sister also brought her 2 daughters that have disabilities and got their hair cut.

Thats disgusting!  My son is autistic, and cutting his hair is like wrestling an octopus....my stylist tried a few times to cut his hair, with mediocre results....we called a Kids salon to see about doing it there, we told her he was autistic, and it was very difficult to cut his hair.....her reponse????  You havent brought him here, we made an appt asap...lol....her patience and fun personality was amazing!!  She did a wonderful job with his cut, took her time, tried to make him feel comfortable......there should be more places like hers

I have a special needs child who is in a wheelchair. I went into a super cuts to get his hair cut and the lady said "i can't cut his hair in his wheelchair" i told her "he cannot sit in your chair he will fall out" she still wouldn't cut his hair. I saw another hair stylist and asked her if she would cut his hair, she had no problem at all. Education is so very important and we as parents need to do the educating.

Wow, if she'd said 'sorry, I don't cut the hair of <any other descriptor>' no one would be making excuses for her ignorance. If she was uncomfortable, she should have asked someone else there for help, or said "Mom, how do you think I can do this the easiest for him?" Asking for parental involvement means she'd learn how to accommodate the child/parent and educate herself to help other special needs kids.

 

I have a child with autism, and while I feel for the stylist -- you gotta live in a cave if you don't know about autism or think that saying "I don't do special needs.. is okay -- she still doesn't get a free pass. Most of us moms realize if something won't work or we try to help to make it work, and we don't expect everyone to just know, but we also don't expect illegal discrimination either. If she'd said a color, a race, a size, the world would be up in arms. Instead, it's autism, where it affects 1 in 88 children anymore, and suddenly, it's mom's fault. Insanity.

 

If people cannot deal with special needs, they should work in a field that has nothing to do with the public. I think the mom needs to give up on the apology, as forced apologies are meaningless, but JC Penney does need to do the right thing and at least make it clear that they'll do better next time. Hiding from mom doesn't make me want to take my son there. (But I also have a special stylist that LOVES my son and works with him, giving him time to prepare and working around any odd behaviors he may display. She even has patience with the non-disabled people who make her wait while they answer their cellphone...)

I agree with EDSDOAND. I also have a speacial needs grandchild who I have raised. If people don't understand the handicap, I try to educate them. I totally understand the stylist being unsure of cutting someones hair, that holds his hands over his ears.

I don't go around making exuses for my granddaughter. I expect her to fit into society the best she can, and not take advantage of, or be rude to, or expect people to give her special consideration because ofher handicap.

The mother or nanny, could have asked if there was someone there that could cut his hair.

There are some people out there, not handicapped, that have hair that has to be cut a certain way because of the type of hair it is. They have to have a stylist that knows how to do her type of hair. They don't go off half cocked if someone is unable to cut it, they find someone who can.

Before you condemn the stylist, please take into consideration that what she might have been  "nicely" trying to say was "I don't know if I can take the responsibility of cutting his hair if he keeps his hands over his ears."   Sylists are NOT physical therapists, social workers, or trained with working with disabilities, they cut hair.  It's up to them to define their comfort level.  Obviously, this is not the first time the kid has had his hair cut, why would you drop him  on a salon without talking to them about it first?  Sounds like a case of hyper-sensitive mom to me!  Oh, and before you blow me off, I have a "special needs" kid, too, so I'm not sure why she is being so insensitive to people who don't automatically understand a special situation. Shame on you nanny, and mom! Oh, and it doesn't sound like she just wants an apology or she wouldn't go running to the media.  This kind of negative attention makes it harder for the rest of us who are just trying to get our kids through the day, week, month and the rest of their lives. The world does NOT owe them a favor.  We owe it to our kids to teach them to learn to integrate into society.  All we can do is help those that do not understand by teaching them about the disability, not condeming them for what they don't know.

That's just as bad as saying "I don't cut hair for black people." >:(

"I don't cut hair for kids with special needs." Most effed-up sentence I've read in a while.

So you don't want to cut my hair, lady? Fine, you don't get my money.

Great job to JCPenney in correcting this problem.! They've gone above and beyond to show they regret the actions of one dumb employee.  I respected them for not firing Ellen after that idiotic hoopla, and now I respect them even more for these very considerate offers. Great company!

What more do you want? I'm sorry that your son had to go through this but they are doing all they can to fix it. Don't you want people to give your son the benefit of the doubt if he makes a mistake? If so, you have to let people be people and forgive them when they mess up and say they are sorry. Nobody is perfect. The are now changing their policy. Let the anger go. (I say this as a parent of an autistic child too).

Great job Krista, stand your ground.. :) Educating the store employees should have been handled when they were hired..

THAT IS OUTSTANDINGLY HORRIBLE!!!