London: In a case of disability discrimination, an Indian-origin autistic man sued a British health club chain for calling him 'stupid'. The man, Ketan Aggarwal represented himself in court. Aggarwal was yelled at in front of the whole class when he, along with a fellow cyclist suggested that the music was too slow in May 2015.
According to a report in Daily Mail, Aggarwal was yelled at, in May 2015, in front of the whole class when he, along with a fellow cyclist suggested that the music was too slow . The coach was quoted as saying “don’t teach me how to do my job.” At the end of the class, the instructor called him stupid in front of everyone.
30-year-old Aggarwal decided to take the matter to the court on his own when he realised that he could not get any help from complaining to the authorities.
He studied various cases of discrimination in the library and on the internet and prepared a case against the multi-million pound company that is partly owned by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. He fought the case successfully, representing himself as a victim of disability harassment.
He said, “Calling someone with a mental disability ‘stupid’ is similar to mocking a guy in a wheelchair. If I was that stupid I wouldn’t have been able to successfully pursue the claim against a solicitor of a billion pound company.”
The health club then dismissed the instructor and offered him USD 117.8, which he refused. As per the court’s orders Virgin Active paid Aggarwal USD 238 and USD 1,504 for costs and compensation, respectively. The court also ordered the company to issue a written apology and train its staff on equality.
