The story outraged many people, including Paul’s fans, disability advocates and dog lovers in general. Many commenters wrote that the employee was violating the law by denying him entry and casting doubt on his blindness.
“That is illegal. They’re only allowed to ask you two questions. Is this a service dog? And what services is your dog train to perform? Those are the only questions that they are legally allowed to ask,” one comment reads.
Many urged him to name the restaurant so they can take action and protest, but he did not name the establishment. However, he settled the manner in his own way.
In a follow-up video, he said he met with the restaurant’s manager (the employee from the first altercation was not present). Paul told him he did not want to press charges or even get the employee fired, but rather to just get people to “understand the spectrum of blindness,” and “the importance of (real) service animals.”
Paul learned that the employee had recently had a negative experience with an untrained service dog in the restaurant, and didn’t believe he was really blind because he was able to sustain eye contact.
“I think most people want things to be black or white,” Paul said. “If you have a disability, they want it to be the version they’ve seen represented in movies and TV for many years, whereas 93% of people who are blind have some functional vision. This guy had no clue about that.”
Paul says he received an apology from the employee as well as a generous gift card to the restaurant. He says he just wanted the restaurant to learn a lesson from all of this and believes they have.
@matthewandpaul Replying to @Milk Minute Podcast thanks for having my back!! #blind #storytime #guidedog #servicedog
But this is hardly a one-time incident. Many blind people, and people who rely on service dogs, frequently face this kind of discrimination and skepticism.
“I’ve had Uber drivers just drive away as soon as they saw my dog. So, it all speaks to a bigger issue,” Paul told KIRO. “But it’s not about so much reprimanding people as educating them.”
It’s outrageous that this blind man was kicked out of a restaurant, but we’re glad he eventually received an apology. People need to be more understanding towards people with disabilities and their use of service dogs.
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