James Milne is “the sweetest boy who is still in love with The Wiggles and Ben 10”, according to his sister, Victoria.
Yesterday, the 21-year-old man with Down syndrome went to JB Hi-Fi with his dad. But he was refused entry to Brisbane’s Mt Ommaney store after a security guard mistook him for another person with the genetic disorder who was perviously banned from the store.
When James’ father pointed out his son and the banned man in a photograph he was shown were not the same person, the manager allegedly said: “They look the same.”
“The boy also had Down syndrome but was clearly not James,” Ms Milne told the Daily Mail.
“He was white with lighter hair, while James is half-Fijian with olive skin… they clearly weren’t the same person. But they were refused entry.”
In an impassioned post on Facebook, Ms Milne said: “I have never been so disgusted and mad in my life.”
“Despite the evidence that my brother had been mistaken for another young man, the manager still refused to let him in,” Ms Milne said.
“By this stage James, the sweetest boy who is still in love with The Wiggles and Ben 10, was visibly upset at what was happening and my dad took him home.
“Mum called up the manager of the store, demanding that he apologize to her son, to which he replied that ‘he would never, ever, ever get an apology’ from him and that he had ‘the right to stop anyone he pleased from entering the store’.”
Her post has been shared around 55,000 times and has attracted more than 21,000 comments.
And JB Hi-Fi have issued a public apology on their own Facebook page – though Ms Milne says the family has not been personally contacted and that a letter did not make up for the “gross misconduct”.
“JB Hi-Fi and the manager of our Mount Ommaney store believe that we could have managed this in a better way in the interests of James and his family,” the statement said.
A change.org petition calling for an end to the discrimination against Down syndrome people by the store has already gathered close to 7,000 signatures, with supports demanding the manager be sacked.
Top Comments
The mixed identity would be based on previous CCTV footage which are very grainy (low resolution) and in black and white, not high resolution colour so determining the race and identity would be difficult. So the high resolution colour image used in this article is somewhat misleading.
Which retail store on earth would possibly want to ban potential paying customers?
Awful situation, however, some people are just stupid! I'm curious though, if an apology from the head of JB HiFi isn't enough, what do the family want? Money?