Legal Rights of an Aspergian in Washington State

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Hi,

I have been spending time since moving to Seattle at karaoke bars recently. I like to sing!

However, twice people have attacked me (physically) on the basis that I creep them out, and both times got me kicked out of the bar (I raised no fist, the person threatened and raised fists on me.) A third time, I was told I needed to leave because I creeped out the people there.

This is common for me. I was diagnosed at age 22! I am 27 now. I still don't understand my full diagnosis.

However,

This, to me, is discrimination on par with kicking someone out on their gender, race, or sexual preference. I live in the state of Washington (Seattle), and I like to karaoke. OTHER people have the problem with ME, not ME with THEM. And they are raising fists, I am not!

These are the only places I have to karaoke, and I live just down the street from them. It is a convenient stop, and I am not sure what the legal rights of a disabled person are in regards to this.

You cannot kick a tourette's person out of a ballgame because they swear and cannot control it RIGHT!??

So if these people are having a problem with me, and are getting creeped out, they need to leave.

However, I am being asked to leave, and I am not raising fists.

This is discrimination against a condition I was born with, tested, medicated, and diagnosed. This is also a form of prejudice.

I was wondering what my legal rights were this case, since the owner is clear that I have Asperger's, and he is asking me to leave because I am driving off customers.

Since I have no control over my own behavior, and MUSIC is all I do in my free time, what are my rights in this case!

Do I need to leave! Would a lawyer defend me? What are the laws against discrimination in Washington State for disabled people, and especially Seattle area. ARE THEY EVEN ALLOWED TO ASK ME TO LEAVE ON THE BASIS OF A MEDICAL CONDITION? Which, again, is like asking me to leave on skin color.

I have a card for Crohn's (which I also have) which allows me to use any restroom in the state, employee, or locked, without buying anything. I was wondering if there is a similar card, or rights, for Aspies, and if my rights are defended, so as long as I am not the one breaking the rules of the bar, I can counter-sue or somehow file a defense for my syndrome.

Any answers??

-Taysha (James) Teth

PS: I do not know how to handle this on my own, I am fully disabled, and need all the help I can get. Since THREE places have asked me to leave, only on the basis my condition freaks people out, is there any HELP!?? This is all I have to do. I am literally begging!

I'm not following you. What exactly is it that's creeping them out? Are you exposing yourself or something?

Nothing that I know of. It must be the way or speak or that I speak too fast or something. I have done nothing that is legally against the law, I even asked. He just said customers were offended. One guy, in fact, his girlfriend asked to buy me a drink, and he physically attacked me as a result. *I* am being asked to leave as a result of this. Not him! Another guy got offended by my singing voice at one bar, a night I was offkey, I went up and apologized to him, and he jumped me, the bouncer asked me to leave. Because he was a regular!

Basically, I have a propensity to go off on monologues, I am very outgoing, despite being awkward, and good looking I think, despite not having the skills to approach and date very well.

I think something I say offends them, or creeps them out, just personality-wise. It is verbal, nothing else. Like I said, I did nothing illegal in any sense.

I do have a tendency to have trouble reading implications/sub-texts in convo's, nothing more. I am pretty good with non-verbal, though sometimes I can't differentiate between what two actions mean, such as folding your arms because of the weather, or folding your arms because you don't want to talk. I am VERY talkative and outgoing, and that is just my basic nature. It gets me in trouble, but I have a choice between being a brain in a jar, or wearing my disability on my sleeve, so I tend to go balls-out on confidence, anymore. I am only shy around women, and awkward!

This is a crime against disability in my eyes.

Damn, rough crowd at karaoke. Who woulda thunk? I'm not sure how you can prove you were kicked out because of your disability. Sounds pretty strange to me. What I would do is get a phone that records video and let it record while you're in one of these places to at least have some evidence.

Taysha, you're not being honest. I've been to karaoke bars. EVERYONE sings off key, so what's so special about your singing? I still don't get why you creep people out. The only way someone could creep me out at a karaoke bar is if they were incontinent, sang so far off tune that they were ridiculing the music, was picking their nose or ass, or having bodily functions best kept hidden. Oh, yeah. I also live in Washington State, so...be honest.

1. You have the same state and federal rights as anyone else, plus state and federal disability rights.

2. Any establishment does have the right to remove disruptive people, as such people are bad for biz, and in order to stay in biz the staff needs to keep the majority of customers happy.

3. Apparently you are definitely doing something that ticks people off--you've had several altercations, and 3 places have kicked you out! DUH!! !

4. I agree with one of the other posters. Bring something along to record what's going on if you go again. Although this can help if you want to try to build a case, in your situation it is more so you can try to figure out what you are doing to tick people off. Perhaps you can bring a friend or relative along to observe what you are saying/doing, and they can help you figure out the problem.

5. I am puzzled, though--why would you even want to go back to a place where you are not welcome?

6. Buy your own karaoke machine, and do it at home--just not when others are trying to sleep.

Hope this helps.

This is incorrect. And perhaps I should record the breakdown for you!

1) Case 1 -- I sang offkey, and a heckler started harassing me. I walked up to him, apologized that my voice was offkey, and he said, "I don't like you, get away from me!" and jumped into my face. The bouncer was puzzled, and walked up, said, you need to pick up your tab (which I didn't have) and leave. He thought I had caused the trouble.

2) Case 2 was a simple place of me being in a karaoke place and being told I could not stay if I did not start a tab. I left by choice. I considered that a form of kicking me out, because I was with a friend and said friend's mother, and she was offended by the waitress who required us to open a tab to stay.

3) Case 3, I was told I was offending people -- I am very outgoing, and social. Despite being awkward! And I needed to leave. I explained to the fellow who owned the bar that I had a medical condition where I cannot read implication/subtexts very well, and he said, "One more chance," but I am trying to see where my civil rights are, in case this happens again.

Also, in this same bar (Case 3), I was picked up by a GIRL, who thought I sung well enough to buy a drink. Her boyfriend was so offended he slammed the whole tables tab down on the table and made her pay. Then fretted a bit, came back, and grabbed me by the collar, at which point the bartender grabbed him and threw him out. This was the day before I was told I was "offending and creeping people out." I did not throw a fist, he did. He was offended because his girl was picking up on me, or at least friendly enough to buy me a drink because she thought my singing or my social presentation in this case was attractive. That was FULLY that fellows fault, and had nothing to do with me, though I was told "I had taken her away from the table where her fellows were sitting," which is incorrect, she invited me to the bar for a drink. Completely different circumstance! I was follower, not leader.

Lastly, I see this as a clear form of discrimination.

There needs to be a card for every person with mental disabilities, or genetic differences, allowing them social exceptions and describing their condition -- So long as they don't break the law, they should be tolerated!

Society is not very progressive in this respect.

I feel it is not safe to go outside my house to this day without fifty pitchforks lined up against me.

Before this, I lived in Fundamentalist Utah, where I was demonized for my condition, and abused by parents. I am FIRMLY against injustice, and I see this as injustice, as well as a form of hypocrisy.

I want the right to be myself (my FULL self) without other people's Judgment. That is my Freedom of Speech! Their Freedom of Speech is to walk off if they don't like me.

Secondly, in answer to the question of why I don't get a home karaoke machine -- it is because I am broke, and I like to be social. Despite the fact I am awkward, you don't get better without practice. Also, there is a better chance of social exposure, and hence meeting women when I am in a place that allows similar interests (karaoke). This allows me the social exposure I need, since I do not want to be forced into a shell EVER AGAIN like the State of Utah (Mormons.) did to me!

I need to be Social.

It would be sad to lose this bar. It was just down the street! I just moved here two weeks ago, from Des Moines, and two years ago to Des Moines from a small town in Southern Utah.

This is my first chance to get out and be Social.

Furthermore, it allows me to express an interest.

I have no interest in starting a band, just singing, since starting a band requires me to be around strangers all day, and worse -- possibly strangers who want to get signed and get a record contract. I do this for fun. And practice! Since my voice is only semi-on-par with where I want it to be, and to be honest, I would only start a band with friends, which right now I don't have, since just moving (I've developed a few acquaintances, no musicians)!

Lastly, you would not discriminate against a person for the color of their skin. You would not refuse them service because they were a female. You would not discriminate or express hostility or prejudice towards them because they are "homosexual."

This is intolerable.

I do not wear my "color" on my sleeve, I am a black sheep. People do not see my differences, thus they judge me on the surface differences rather than the cleverly hidden social differences I was born with, inherently.

There needs to be a card for this.

I can repeat this all day, but it need a medical diagnosis, a description, and social differences. Just as you cannot keep a person with Tourette's out of a ballgame, you cannot keep mentally disabled people (I have full disability) hidden in a closet all day. It is not even healthy! Since they need social interaction, too, as it is proven to be healthy for humans, and unhealthy to be deprived of, on the flip side. Then, on that same card, they need a list of differences (since I don't wear them on my sleeve!), and a list of exceptions based on my genetic variations (Aspergers).

This would prevent a LOT of future problems from happening! I already have one for Crohn's, I need one for Aspergers.

My one for Crohn's allows me to use any toilet in the states. Even employee restrooms.

Why not one for Aspergers??

Other diseases.

I will NOT Shut Up about this! I have been deprived too long. I have an interest (karaoke), and a social longing, and I require both to live.

Also, I am unwilling to change (I am medicated, however) simply on the basis that I believe this is a mental variation, and should be TOLERATED. The same way black skin should be tolerated!

I should not be forced into someone else's image of what a perfect human should be.

I should be tolerated exactly for who I am.

Different, but unique.

And my differences, so long as I don't throw a fist, are negligible.

Breaking the law is one thing. Crohn's, Aspergers, is another!

Cannot afford a phone, but if it is their right (at this point in retrogressive Society) to kick me out, I have to live by that law.

I am on disability.

I have a social longing, and I think it is my right to go to bars, rather than be a social outcast. Even if some people exile me, and I polarize people, in my eyes this is their difference, rather than mine.

They are not socially Tolerant!

Nor respectful.

I am tired of hiding in a closet with a karaoke machine (which I don't have, I used to sing in the bathroom so I could hear my own echo), I would rather go out and sing, meet friends, meet females, and experiment with social skills.

Practice makes perfect!

-James

1) Not sure what those are, for disability, in Washington. I will ask my counselor or psychiatrist, unless you can elaborate.

2) Ok

3) Don't take this wrong way -- Well, do. F*** you.

I have the right to be myself.

If this ticks someone off, their problem, not mine.

4) Agreed. Portable mic, thinking about this, since so many people change their story and logical contradictions occur anyway. Intelligence is relative. People, too, have several meta-states, rather than just one "block-like" personality, as Neurolinguistics and Social Engineering have proved.

5) Because I don't care if their offended. All of Utah was! After 15 years of crapping my pants with Crohn's, and an entire lifetime of being socially awkward, I have nothing to lose by being myself. Their offense doesn't offend me. I just don't want to be kicked out. Nor start fights!

6) No.

I like Socializing.

Does this help?

I want to meet Men.

Women.

And Friends.

In that order,

James.