Melbourne Cafe Apologises Over Tasteless Joke About Disabled People

A popular Melbourne café has been forced to apologise for making a joke about disabled people. 

Seddon Deadly Sins, in Seddon in Melbourne’s inner west, wrote the joke on a sign outside the shop and posted it to Facebook.
“My girlfriend broke up with me, so I stole her wheelchair,” the sign said.

“Guess who came crawling back.”

While the joke was posted with the hashtags #hahaha and #haveyoulaughedlately it seems their Facebook followers weren’t so impressed. 

“Any cafe that thinks jokes about abuse and violence and against disabled people is NOT a community cafe worth supporting,” one person said. 

Others called it “vile” and “pathetic”. 

While the co-owner Chris Gooden initially defended the sign, saying it was a “silly pun”.

However, he later changed his tune:
“Today I made the mistake of making light of something that I had not considered was a brutal reality for some people,” the post read.

“Colleen Hartland shared a report with me that highlighted domestic violence against people with disabilities. I’m ashamed that it took this for me to learn about this abuse.                                                                                         

“I apologise for my ignorance and any offence that it has caused. Regardless of the original intent, I should have known better.”

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