“What Would You Do?” set up their cameras at the Chit Chat Diner in Hackensack, N.J., to see how bystanders would react when they saw a family with an autistic child being berated by our actor for the child’s behavior — something many parents of autistic children say they deal with on occasion. {Find out more about the segment here.}
The ABC News blog had this poll on their site:
I couldn’t believe how many people thought that families should leave. I was also disgusted by some of the comments from readers of the blog.
I was interested to watch this segment to see how people would behave in this situation. I was surprised that the patrons reacted the way they did because I expected just the opposite.
You can view the whole segment here. After watching it, what did you think?
Usually when a child is disruptive because of my own health issues (can’t handle loud noises like screaming or fussing for long periods of time) I have to either be moved or leave. I don’t know what I would do with a child that had a disability, but I know with my own niece I do take her outside to let her calm herself if she becomes disruptive before we come back to the table and/or activity. I think that each family needs to define what is too much for their kids and under what circumstances they need to remove themselves from the situation.