Going Viral: Chuck E. Cheese Discriminates Against a Disabled West End Family

A Chuck E. Cheese’s location in Atlanta has come under fire for allegedly discriminating against a 9-year-old with special needs, Marley Eschoe, by refusing to allow Marley’s dad to accompany her to the women’s restroom during a birthday party. Marley’s mom, Kiyomi Rollins, has launched a fast-growing Change.org petition calling on Chuck E. Cheese’s to apologize and to provide additional training for its employees.

The petition is currently on Change.org with over 84,000 signers and calls on Chuck E. Cheese’s to apologize for allegedly discriminating against a disabled 9-year-old and to ensure all of its employees are trained to work with Chuck E. Cheese customers with special needs.

Kiyomi says that her daughter, who has lupus, a debilitating autoimmune disease, attended a friend’s birthday party at a local Chuck E. Cheese’s after she had just been released from a three-month stay in the hospital following her second stroke in eight months. Marley was in a wheelchair at the time and was accompanied by her father, Mark Eschoe, when she need assistance using the restroom. Mark and Marley report that the location’s manager refused to allow Mark to accompany Marley to the women’s restroom -- which Mark says was empty at the time -- and the facility had no family restroom as an alternative.

The family says Marley was devastated by the experience and claims that in addition to Chuck E. Cheese’s violating the Americans With Disabilities Act by not providing Marley with reasonable accommodations, the staff was not adequately trained to handle the situation.

“For our family, it’s so rare to have those moments when Marley can have a day out where she can just be a kid,” said Kiyomi, who launched the campaign on Change.org. “From dealing with Marley’s physical and speech therapy to other new physical challenges like her wheelchair, our family is still figuring out what our ‘new normal’ is, and the treatment Marley and her dad experienced at Chuck E. Cheese’s was so hurtful. Chuck E. Cheese’s says it celebrates ‘fun for all,’ but that certainly was not the case for our daughter.”

Chuck E. Cheese’s has issued an initial response claiming that “the father's request to accompany his daughter into the women's restroom came while female patrons were already using the restroom. However, our employees still attempted to provide alternative accommodations for the child's restroom needs.” But Mark disputes Chuck E. Cheese’s claim. He says that another staff member nearby confirmed that the restroom was empty, and he recommended that a friend or staff member could wait outside the restroom while he accompanied Marley.

New signatures on Kiyomi’s petition are sent via email to Michael H. Magusiak, the CEO of CEC Entertainment, Inc., which owns Chuck E. Cheese’s. So far, over 84,000 people across the country have signed Kiyomi’s petition, which has also garnered support from singer Toni Braxton, who also suffers from lupus, as well as a local chapter of the NAACP.