Actress Sally Phillips recently revealed that her son with Down’s syndrome was denied access to a trampoline park.
The 53-year-old comedian opened up about her experience, sharing that her child Olly was not welcomed to play at Oxygen Acton in London.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Friday, March 29, Phillips revealed that the company didn’t allow her son to enter the premises because someone with the said syndrome needs to show a letter from the GP.
Phillips, who is known for creating and starring in sketch show Smack The Pony explained: "Olly is used to being able to do what his contemporaries (do) ... so we went with his younger brother, and younger brother's friend, and we've been hundreds of times before, and the lady on the desk says, 'oh, sorry, can I have a word?' and called the manager over ... I was so, so upset for Olly to be prevented."
She further added that "they're weeding out people with visible disabilities" and "so if you have an invisible disability, you're not required to bring in a doctor's letter".
Being a patron of the Down’s Syndrome Association, she said that it’s crucial to pay for a doctor’s letter in order to obtain the required documents.
This means that “this sort of admin burden on special needs parents, just to be part of the community ... to do a normal thing, to take normal risks that everyone is allowed to take is just unbearable," she said.
Phillips concluded her statement by identifying this as an “unfair” practice given that it is not “fair for special needs parents to make the changes but would help the company.”