A woman in Rockford, Illinois has filed a lawsuit against McDonalds for the way they treated her on November 3rd, 2006.
Dawn Larson was born with Holt-Oram Syndrome, a genetic disorder causing abnormalities in the hands, limbs and heart. Dawn’s small hands are only six inches from her shoulders; throughout her life she has done most things with her feet. She is a perfectly normal woman despite this disability, and a working mother. “I do everyday things like everyday people.”
On t
hat day in early November, Dawn pulled up to the McDonalds window and ordered food for her and her sons. She paid the cashier at the first window, handing her credit card to the woman using her foot. She then pulled up to get her food. “The first girl said, ‘Girl, you ain’t got no arms’ and the manager said she couldn’t hand me her food and she just kept sticking to the fact that I didn’t have no arms and she was disgusted by it. I had the right to eat my dinner and feed my kids and they took that away from me.” The manager at that particular McDonalds did eventually agree to hand the food over to Dawn’s son. Three and a half months later, a different McDonalds would not give her the food because of her disability. “I paid to be discriminated against and I paid to be disrespected and I paid to not even have the right to eat my food.” Dawn had officially had enough. She filed a complaint to McDonalds, who only sent her a $10 gift card in return. She is now filing a lawsuit against the entire corporation so that no one else will have to suffer the way she did.
