MalloryKeaton

This is terrible.

http://www.recordonline.com/archive...18/laughter.htm

Town of Wallkill – If you're a 7-year-old kid with cerebral palsy and autism, you have to take your laughs anywhere you can get them.
Just don't have too much fun at the local movie theater, or you might get thrown out.
That's what happened to young Anthony Pratti this week. To say his parents are upset about it would be an understatement.
Anthony, who uses a wheelchair, was with his parents, his sister and his grandmother at the Loews Cineplex theaters in the Galleria at Crystal Run Sunday, watching a 1:15 p.m. matinee of the G-rated film "March of the Penguins."
The family sat in the wheelchair section provided by the theater. Anthony was having a good time, said his mom, Gina Pratti.
"He was laughing, but he really wasn't much louder than any of the other kids," she said.
About 15 minutes into the film, one of the theater's managers approached the family, she said.
"He said our son was laughing too loud," Pratti said. "My husband told him Anthony didn't understand, that he was disabled, but that we'd try to quiet him down."
Not good enough, apparently – the manager brusquely told the family that Anthony had to leave, Pratti said.
Outraged, the family followed the manager to the lobby, where they were told they all didn't have to leave – just Anthony, Pratti said.
Pratti was dumbfounded.
"I said to him, what are we supposed to do, wheel him outside and leave him there?" she said.
The manager refunded the family's ticket purchase and sent them on their way, she said.
Location of the theater

Pratti and her husband have spent the past three days making phone calls and sending e-mails, trying to get someone – anyone – from Loews to give them an explanation.
"Not one person from Loews has called me back," Pratti said.
When contacted by the Times Herald-Record yesterday, a representative of Loews corporate headquarters said the company is concerned by Pratti's story, and is looking into Sunday's events.
The company says it will issue a statement today.
Pratti has spoken with attorneys about the incident, but isn't sure she wants to pursue any legal action.
Meanwhile, Pratti says she hopes Loews will do whatever it takes to make amends.
"This was only the third movie Anthony had ever seen, and now we're afraid to go back because they might throw us out again," Pratti said.
Explanations aside, Pratti has a simple message for the manager she says publicly humiliated her son:
"Shame on you."

*Lauren

To be honest, I'd like to hear from another party before I condemn the manager. The family says he wasn't that loud, but its quite easy to tune someone out, especilly if its something you're used to every day.

The problem is, while this boy should be able to watch the movie, if he is stopping others enjoying the movie what should be done?

-Kelly-

What?
I work and go to Camps as a disablity kids of all types, this is wrong.
Kicked Out for Just for Laughing?

Shame.

mh67511

Well saying that only he has to leave is ridiculous, obviously he's disabled. But I work at a theatre and trust me, we DO get complaints quite frequently about people being too loud in theatres, however, we only ask people to leave if they are being REALLY loud. Usually we just ask them to quiet down. The family says he wasn't loud, but that's hard to judge. I'm sure other patrons didn't realize the kid was disabled, and I'm sure they wanted to enjoy the movie without disruptions. Either way he refunded them their ticket price.

Yuffie_sl

They should of gave him some more warning or something.

Drekkan

I'm willing to bet they did. The article is stilted because we, as a society, like to feel sorry for disabled children - and don't like authority figures in the style of a manager. However, if the kid was being unreasonably loud, and inappropriate, then I can understand him being asked to leave.

Rainstorm Jenny

That is a shame

-Kelly-

Disabled children can not understand, most of the time.

Lain

Indeed they don't. I saw this article in the dailyrotten.com site

In Fair Verona

Very true. My brother is autistic. It's a shame, but he doesn't go to movies and he's quite a handful when I take him to public places. Usually most people are understanding, and I think that more so recently than in the past people are more aware of who exactly is disabled and who is not.

Which is why I think that if the people who complained knew that this child was disabled, they would have been more understanding. What what would have been a better way to handle things is to refund those parties who complained about the noise. Of course, this comes down to what the movie theatre wants to spare - money or a family's feelings.

In any case, I don't understand why the autistic child has to go to the movie theatre to have fun. To them, I don't think watching a movie in a theatre is any difference from watching one at home. My brother doesn't go to movies, we bring the movies to him. -shrug- But to each their own, that family most definitely had the right to be there.

Nele

That is just wrong, how can they kick someone out for laughing?
I've been to many films where people were laughing very loud and I've never seen anyone get kicked out for producing too much decibels
Why can't they understand that that boy just had a great time?

LMS

Obviously we've only heard the family's point of view. If the boy was making a scene, being too loud or in any way spoiling the film for other viewers, then he should have been asked to leave whether he was disabled or not.

Laughing does seem pretty innocuous but I can see that if he was laughing loudly and consistently, it could be quite distracting.

While I don't think that the family should be excluded solely on the basis that they had an autistic child with them, I do think that it is unfair for the other people in the room, to have the film spoiled for them (if the boy really was that loud) just because the boy happened to be autistic.

4est

What?

~Gump

4est

Excellent point. As we continue to mainstream the handicapped, we will be faced more and more with this problem. Everyone will be asked to cooperate with each other, but not to the detriment of one or the other. No matter what the condition of people, they will need to comport themselves appropriately for the situation.

~Gump

Hot Like Fire

The family had ever right to be at that movie