'Entitled woman confiscated my stepdaughter's iPad on plane, it was bugging her'
Forget snakes on a plane, there were one too many “Karens” on this particular flight as a man detailed his run-in with an irate female passenger who swiped his autistic stepdaughter’s iPad. An unexpectedly turbulent time was had as the 36-year-old stepdad and his husband, 32, jetted off to Los Angeles on their honeymoon, with 15-year-old Alexandra in tow.
He explained that the teenager has autism and “the mind of a [child who is] three-years-old” and sometimes would “refuse to talk to me or my husband.” The family could not book plane seats next to each other and so “my husband decided to take a seat two [aisles] away from me and his daughter [and] I agreed to watch her.”
Sharing his story in a post on Reddit, things took a turn for the worst when he and Alexandra were sat next to a “Karen” who was in her 50s or 60s. He continued: “The woman looked at me and said, ‘Excuse me? Could you make her stop?’ Alexandra was excited because that was her first [flight] ever, so started flapping her hands.
"I nodded at the woman and took out Alexandra’s iPad, turned off the volume, and gave it to her (she has her ear defenders on because she has sensory processes issues) Alexandra started playing on it, and when we got up in the air, she passed out on my shoulder."
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Drama then ensued when the complete stranger, he claims, suddenly snatched the device, and decided to confiscate it. He recalled: “Before I could [get] her iPad the woman reached out and took the iPad and put it in her bag saying, ‘Ugh, that thing [was] so annoying.'
“I just stood there, didn’t know how to react or what to do. I looked at her and said, ‘Ma’am, she is autistic, and she needs the tablet to communicate with, would you please just listen and do the right thing and give it back to her?’
“The woman looked at me and said, ‘She doesn’t look autistic. My five-year-old son is autistic, and I know how autistic people look like.’ I was more shocked than ever. ‘Excuse me!?’ I tried to explain to her that not every autistic [person] looks different, and that because her son is autistic it doesn’t mean that Alexandra is not autistic, and she wouldn’t look like a five-year-old boy, but the woman ignored me.”
That explanation didn’t fly with the woman and so he “tried to take the iPad” back and, he says, she then kicked off. He added: “She started yelling that I hit her and I’m trying to steal her [iPad]. I just stood there. One of the [flight] attendants came and asked what was going on, and the woman yelled, ‘He tried to steal my son’s iPad in my bag!’
“Alexandra was up at this point and started getting anxious. She wanted her iPad so [she could] talk with me. The [flight] attendant asked me if that was true and I said calmly, ‘Of course not. Actually, she took my autistic stepdaughter’s iPad, and if she took out the iPad, I could show you it’s my stepdaughter’s.’
“The woman was forced to give me the iPad, so I proved it was my stepdaughter’s. I unlocked it and showed a few pictures of me, my husband, and Alexandra at home having fun together. The [flight] attendant decided to switch the seat of the woman for the sake of all of us… so [my husband] took her seat without any problems.”
One Reddit user commented, “I’m so glad that you put this Karen in her place,” while a 17-year-old, who has autism, shared: “I’m autistic and use my phone to communicate when I go nonverbal – sadly I was only recently diagnosed so I was never allowed accommodations such as a device to speak with.”
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