One of the owners of Wickham’s Fruit Farm responded this morning to allegations of discrimination against disabled young people that have caused a controversy on social media.
The controversy erupted after teachers of special needs students said they were asked to leave the Cutchogue farmstand because the young adults were disabled.
The teacher who brought the students to Wickham’s Fruit Farm in Cutchogue posted the following post on the farm’s Facebook page last week:
“Went here with a group of (very mildly) developmentally disabled individuals to go apple picking. We already spoke to the owner, who told us it would be fine. As soon as we arrived, I began to browse in the store at the pies and whatnot. She quickly told me the clients “are not allowed in the store” that they are “bad for business” and customers in general “don’t like to see them”. Needless to say we left and we won’t be back. Don’t support ableist business owners like this one. There are plenty of other farms in the area that are more accommodating. Funny how we are bad for business when we were the only customers in there. Maybe your nasty attitude is what’s bad for business.”
The post generated a flood of outrage on Facebook, including one post that has been shared almost 1,000 times as of Monday morning:
I am not usually the type to air my grievances, public or private, on facebook. But as a devoted, doting and loving…
Posted by Fontaine Marie on Tuesday, September 22, 2015
SoutholdLOCAL spoke this morning to Gekee Wickham, who owns the business with her husband Tom Wickham.
Wickham began the conversation with displaying a large red binder filled with dozens of appointments for groups of disabled children, both through a long list of schools located on both the East End and western Suffolk County.
A teacher herself, Wickham said she has experience in working with disabled and autistic children and young adults and has welcomed the groups to the farm for seven to 10 years.
Groups of disabled students are able to ride the tractor and learn about how fruits are grown, and Wickham gives talks on bees and other facets of the operation that are geared for each class’s age and developmental level.
“Every year, we have a lot of special needs kids,” she said. The groups come back many years in a row, she added. “I’m so open to hosting these groups. We never say special ed students can’t come here. How could you do that?”
Groups of 20 to 150 students are booked, Wickham said; there is no charge for teachers and aides to take part in the program.
Wickham said she doesn’t even ask if the groups will include special needs’ students; teachers add that information when they fill out the slips to indicate how the presentation should be shaped.
Explaining what happened during the incident that has garnered such backlash, Wickham said that most groups who come have teachers and aides who stay with the young people.
In this case, however, Wickham said the group, who were visiting from the Economic Opportunity Council of Suffok included young people who entered the farmstand area without supervision.
The young people, she said, were touching the packages of cookies as well as fruits, leaning their faces close to the pie boxes to smell. She said she quietly asked the teachers to please take students who were not buying anything, out of the shop; those who were hoping to purchase something were asked to come in accompanied by a teacher.
Special needs students, she said, “are tactile,” using their hands and sense of smell; teachers should have been onhand to supervise, she said.
Wickham said she would have said the same to any child or adult who was handling the merchandise
Lucy Belle and Samantha Williams, the teachers with the students, were outraged after they were asked to have the kids step outside and turned to social media to express their anger.
Fontaine Lewis, of Copiague, whose son, Joseph, 27, was among those in the group, has turned to Yelp and Facebook to urge customers not to frequent Wickham’s.
“Initially, I was heartbroken that this happened but then I got angry,” she said. “I went onto Yelp to give them a bad review and several people had already beat me to it.”
Lewis said she thought EOC staff handled the situation well, taking the students out of the environment.
Anne Stewart of the Patchogue-based EOC of Suffolk, agreed. “It was surprise that in this day and age, this bigotry still exists. This is America, we’re very diverse. Thankfully, our kids did not understand the prejudice imparted on them. My staff responded in a very professional way and took our kids out of that environment, that could have been very toxic for them. Wickham’s Fruit Farm needs some diversity training.”
Wickham said perhaps the teachers at EOC should have known that they should stay with the students while they were in the farmstand area. “I don’t think they’re trained professionally,” she said, adding that with other school groups, teachers are always overseeing their groups.
When told that Wickham said the young people were handling the merchandise, Lewis said, “That’s not what my staff told me. My staff said they were asked to leave because they were not comfortable with the situation.”
Stewart said they’d called in advance and said they were coming. “Everyone is not the same. Everyone is different. For them to act the way they did, shame on them.”
Lewis said she plans to keep the story alive, spreading the word; she’s a member of a number of autism groups for parents of individuals with special needs. Social media is on fire with the story, which has been shared already hundreds and hundreds of times. “I think their business will be negatively impacted by what they did,” she said.
Lewis applauded those who’ve spoken out on social meda to support those with special needs.
“The kids just wanted to pick apples. An hour’s drive, both ways, for nothing. The advocacy here far exceeded my hopes and expectations. In this instance, the snowball effect definitely had its merits. It has incensed people all over the country and those right next door. The likes, shares, comments and complaints against Wickhams Fruit Farm are now in the tens of thousands…One bad apple at Wickham’s will cause all of their fruit to rot. Yes, pun intended,” Lewis wrote.
