In 2007, Karen Putz pulled into the drive-thru at a local fast food restaurant. She was heading to pick up her daughter with her son in the car, and was in a bit of a rush. She decided the empty drive-thru would be much quicker.
Karen expected it would be a simple visit to the restaurant for a milkshake, but she was very, very wrong.
You see, Karen is deaf, and when she pulled up to the speaker, she realized it was too difficult to communicate with the drive-thru employee. So she drove past the speaker and went straight to the window to place her order.
The employee was clearly confused, but as soon as he opened the window, Karen told him she couldn't hear him from the speaker. She then ordered a milkshake.
"I can't take your order here, you have to drive through again," the employee told her. Karen told her she was deaf and couldn't hear from the speaker, and that she was getting frustrated.
But Karen was stunned when the employee not only threatened to call the cops on her, but also slammed the window in her face and refused to serve her.
Karen knew she was unable to follow the restaurant's protocol, but says "It's not about me not following their policy, it's about them not making the restaurant accessible to the hard of hearing people."
Karen went home and blogged about her negative experience.
In the clip below, an organization visits with Karen to talk about the refusal of service and discusses solutions to the unfortunate way deaf and hard of hearing people are sometimes treated.
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