Maryland family asked to leave Outback Steakhouse because son with special needs was too loud

[MineralMan]

3. That's a real dilemma, isn't it?

Not having been there, I can't know how disruptive the situation was. The restaurant has to accommodate people with disabilities, but also has to deal with disturbances that affect other customers. In a supermarket, for example, if there is a screaming child, I simply shop elsewhere in the store for a while. And a shrieking two-year-old can produce ear damaging decibel levels, for sure. But in a restaurant, it's not possible to choose another aisle to shop in until the child has moved on.

Parents know how loud their children are. They experience it all the time in a case like this one. Again, it is a balancing act. Do they risk seriously disturbing others at a restaurant or forgo dining out with their child? I don't know the answer, because I don't know the situation. I've been in restaurants when a child throws a screaming fit and mom or dad is forced to pick up the child and take it outside to avoid an intolerable disturbance to other customers. It's expected that parents will do that, actually.

So, it's Hobson's Choice, I think, in this circumstance. I just don't know, because I wasn't there.