00:00 I'm blind and I just got kicked out of a restaurant in Seattle. I walked in with my guide dog Mr. Maple
00:06 and immediately somebody rushed up to me and said no pets allowed only service dogs. I said it's okay
00:11 he's a service dog. He looked at me, he looked at Maple, he said
00:14 emotional support dog? No, like a guide dog for the blind. I literally had this harness attached to him
00:22 I showed this to him. I said I'm blind. He said you don't look blind
00:24 And I said a lot of people in the blind community still have some functional vision. He said you're looking right at me
00:29 I said yes, but it's like I have a pinhole of vision. It's all I can see. He said listen
00:33 This isn't my first rodeo. He literally said that he said this isn't my first
00:37 Rodeo. What is going on out there that would lead this man to believe that I was lying?
00:43 He said do you see any other dogs in this restaurant? I said I honestly know I'm blind. I there could be
00:50 He said I could come back with his paperwork and he said if you step foot back in this restaurant with that dog
00:57 I will call the police
00:59 I'm speechless. I had the meeting with the manager. I actually went back into the restaurant to meet with him
01:06 I was scared to do that. I didn't want to go back, especially if that same employee was gonna be there
01:12 But I was assured that he wasn't gonna be there. The first thing I told him was listen
01:16 I don't want to press charges. I don't even want the guy to lose his job
01:20 I just want people to understand the spectrum of blindness
01:24 And I want people to understand the importance of service animals real service animals
01:28 okay, so apparently the employee I was dealing with just had a really negative encounter with a
01:33 Patron that came in with a service dog in a vest and the dog was completely
01:37 Untrained kind of unruly out of control and the reason he didn't believe me or thought that this was another one of those situations
01:44 Is because I told him I was blind, but I was able to sustain eye contact with him
01:48 I think most people want things to be black or white if you have a disability
01:53 They want it to be the version that they've seen represented in movies and in TV for many years
01:58 Whereas 93% of people who are blind have some functional vision. This guy had no clue about that
02:04 It's so common every day people tell me I'm not blind in the comments here online
02:09 Just like this server at this restaurant who denied my entry because he thought I was a liar
02:14 I have since received a sincere apology from the person that I had the confrontation with I also got a very generous
02:20 Gift card to the restaurant. I don't want anything bad to happen to this establishment
02:25 I just want them to learn from the whole experience and I think that is gonna happen
02:29 Oh, oh and the craziest thing there was a woman at the restaurant who witnessed the whole thing from the other side of the restaurant
02:36 She apparently couldn't hear anything going on. She just saw me talking to the guy and then saw me leave with mr
02:41 Maple later that night
02:43 She saw the video and so she immediately called into the restaurant to say that she was there
02:49 She was a witness just want to thank that anonymous woman
02:51 I don't know who you are
02:52 But thank you, and I'm so grateful for every one of you who responded to the video who made me feel seen. I
02:58 Always laugh when I say that I'm blind, but you made me feel seen
