Source: Non-autistic customer who was also using the store.

Date received:  August 2023.

Details:

Waitrose staff could have easily assisted customer but refused to do so and appear to be discriminatory towards autistic customers.

Summary of incident:

At 11 AM on the 26th of August, at the St-Neots branch of the Waitrose supermarket, an autistic woman was asked to provide a form that included a printed barcode, in order to access a service. It is not uncommon for autistic people to have difficulties with specific demands made in relation to Smartphones and other aspects of new technology employed to make life easier for retailers, and rarely with the convenience of the customer in mind. She did have ID and was able to present her Waitrose registered customer card, but this was considered insufficient by staff who were only concerned with following procedure and who would not make very minor adjustments to avoid causing the customer unnecessary distress.

With reference to the 2010 equality tact, analysis of presented difficulty is often used to evaluate how “reasonable” changes will be, to allow equal access to disabled people. Clearly, when only a small change to standard procedure that requires no additional equipment or training is required, a refusal to do so is unlikely to be the result of anything but wilful discrimination. Of course, equality regarding disabilities such as autism is very far behind that enjoyed by many other groups of people and so far, very little progress has been made to improve that situation in a large retail organisation.

St-Neots Waitrose, where the incident took place.

The customer who witnessed and reported the incident made the following observation:

“The one-track-minded attitude was shocking. Since they knew her, they should have personalised their customer service. They called the police and she ran away screaming. Who are the mentally ill here?”

Obviously, without wishing to provide personal details of the autistic woman, this is clearly a case where autism is accompanied by some other difficulties that make interactions very frightening and intimidating.

Waitrose have refused to comment and have so far not provided any additional information or clarification. It is unfortunate that they seem completely unwilling to learn or improve, and that the needs and concerns of vulnerable people are completely secondary to blind adherence to policy and the retailer’s convenience.