Question for

[Guest guest]

Yesterday evening, my family and I went to dinner at one of our

favorites restaurants. Our son, who has autism, enjoys this

place and behaves very well. The owner's grandson has Down Syndrome

so they seem to be more accepting than most and every effort is

always made for Russ--we're served quickly, our table is out of the

way and our waitress understanding, etc. This is an upscale

steakhouse, not a Denny's, but they really, really " get it " . (Those

in the south suburbs, this is Mr. Benny's--we've been to both their

Matteson and Mokena restaurants and BOTH have been great--Mr. Benny

is usually at the Mokena one and serves Russ, the 'prince', himself.)

This is not typically the case. We do dine out together once a

month or so, and often, even when we ask for accomadations, we don't

get them. The service is awful or, several times, we were asked to

leave because Russ sometimes hums. There are stories in the news

about children in these situations but never adults. We don't go to

any place we don't think he can behave, or any place really, really

expensive. Of course, we don't go back if we don't think the service

or the accommadations are not to our liking. And with the economy,

we may not be dining out as often anyway.

I guess my question is, do restaurants have to follow the ADA? It

is a service industry, I do understand, but what we ask for is not

out of line or even that difficult to give us. And service is

service--we do pay, the same as anyone.

Marie, co-moderator