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Mum distraught after autistic toddler kicked out of disabled loo

Staff called her 'ridiculous'.

The mum of a child with autism was left in tears when heartless shopping centre staff called her โ€˜ridiculousโ€™ for taking her autistic son into the disabled toilet.

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For 23-year-old Erica Ferguson, negotiating shopping centres is a challenge. With a baby that needed changing, and a toddler with autism, disabled bathrooms are a Godsend. 

On this day, she needed to change her baby and the low-stimulation environment of a disabled toilet helps her do what she needed to do. 

Asking the attendant to let her into the disabled bathroom she was stunned at the response. 

โ€˜I got really upset when she said to use the womenโ€™s instead of the disabled toilet we needed โ€“ Flynn was starting to wake up, and if he did by someone drying their hands heโ€™d have a meltdown.โ€™

Eventually she was let in to a disabled toilet, saying the attendant was muttering that she was โ€˜ridiculousโ€™ โ€“ but it didnโ€™t have a change table. But by this point Erica was exhausted. 

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โ€˜Having a disabled child comes with lots of issues, but Iโ€™ve never experienced something like this before with people being so rude for no reason,โ€™ she told the Liverpool ECHO.

โ€˜He has a blue disabled badge on his pram too.โ€™

The Estate Director for the shopping centre, Chris Bliss, says he was โ€˜shocked and saddened to hear about this incident.โ€™

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Looking into the incident Bliss adds that the centre is โ€˜passionate about ensuring we do everything we can to make the Liverpool ONE experience as enjoyable as it possibly can be for all our customers.โ€™

This article first published on New Idea.

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