Brazilian mall fires Santa for declining photo to autistic boy
No holiday spirit! Brazilian mall fires Santa Claus for refusing to hug and take a photo with a four-year-old autistic boy
- Shopping Sul, a mall in Valparaíso, Brazil, fired its Santa Claus character for declining to take a picture with a four-year-old boy who has autism
- Angélica Alves took her son, Daniel Alves, to the mall Sunday and said that he was a little ‘agitated’ while he waiting his turn
- She told the mall Santa of her son’s condition just moments before the photo session, but the man said no and motioned at her to take Daniel away
- The distraught mother returned home with her son and alerted the mall, which investigated the incident and fired him on the spot
- Daniel has been invited back to the mall to take his photo with a newly hired Santa
A Brazilian mall has fired its Santa Claus for refusing to hug and take a photo with an autistic boy.
Four-year-old Daniel Alves approached the bearded holiday character for the long-awaited snap he had been looking forward to all year when he was unexpectedly turned away, the boy’s mother Angélica Alves told Metropoles newspaper.
‘Santa Claus just turned around and said no, that there would be no picture,’ Angélica said.
The distraught mother said she took her son to Shopping Sul in Valparaíso, Goiás, on Sunday and that her son was restless while waiting his turn in queue and out of courtesy informed the other mall customers around her of her son’s condition.
Angélica then told the Santa Claus that Daniel was autistic before he declined to have the holiday picture taken.
A man hired to dress up as Santa Claus (right) at a mall in Valparaíso, Brazil, declined on Sunday to hug and take a photo with four-year-old Daniel Alves (center) because he is diagnosed with autism. The child’s mother, Angélica Alves, contacted mall management, who investigated the incident and fired the man on the spot
She shared an image that shows the little boy standing next to a female Santa helper while the not-so jolly Saint Nick looked away.
The mall character then waved at Angélica and instructed her to take Daniel before he called on another child to have their picture taken together.
‘I took Daniel, very embarrassed because I had no way, I had no effort to debate, I had no effort to look for anyone (for help),’ Angélica said.
She contacted management at Shopping Sul to file a complaint and the Santa Claus was fired on the spot.
Shopping Sul mall management fired a man hired to dress up as Santa Claus for the holidays after confirming a complaint filed by the mother of a four-year-old boy who said the character refused to hug and take a photo with the child because of his autism condition
An invitation was extended to the family so that Daniel could return and have his photo taken with a newly hired Santa.
‘It is very painful to see your child being rejected. I felt my son rejected and it hurt me a lot,’ Angélica said. ‘I know I’m going to witness it, but I sincerely hope not, you know? I want my son to be included in society as a normal person, as a normal child.’
In a statement to Metropoles, Shopping Sul apologized for the incident and said that the incident ‘does not reflect the values of the company, which bases its relationships on principles such as ethics, respect and equality.’
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