British church apologizes for kicking autistic out

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Paul Rimmer intended to celebrate the end of Father's Day at church with his two young sons in tow. But their time together was cut short for what the church considered a disruption and Rimmer considered "rejection."

The family was to attend Sunday's Evensong, a mostly sung-through evening service, at King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England.

The event was particularly thrilling for Rimmer's 9-year-old son, Tristan, who loves the 16th-century church's ceilings and famed Latin chorales. And because he has autism and is nonverbal, he expresses his excitement primarily through laughter and calls, his dad explained.

But before the end of the service, an usher asked Tristan and his family to leave on the grounds that he was disrupting fellow parishioners, Rimmer said.

In a biting letter addressed to the college's dean, the Rev. Dr. Stephen Cherry, Rimmer frames his grievances as a faux-apology for "lessening the satisfaction" of tourists who visit the chapel and who found his son's form of worship offensive.

On Monday, he published the letter on Facebook, where it's been shared nearly 6,000 times.

Paul Rimmer intended to celebrate the end of Father's Day at church with his two young sons in tow. But their time together was cut short for what the church considered a disruption and Rimmer considered "rejection."

The family was to attend Sunday's Evensong, a mostly sung-through evening service, at King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England.

The event was particularly thrilling for Rimmer's 9-year-old son, Tristan, who loves the 16th-century church's ceilings and famed Latin chorales. And because he has autism and is nonverbal, he expresses his excitement primarily through laughter and calls, his dad explained.

But before the end of the service, an usher asked Tristan and his family to leave on the grounds that he was disrupting fellow parishioners, Rimmer said.

In a biting letter addressed to the college's dean, the Rev. Dr. Stephen Cherry, Rimmer frames his grievances as a faux-apology for "lessening the satisfaction" of tourists who visit the chapel and who found his son's form of worship offensive.

On Monday, he published the letter on Facebook, where it's been shared nearly 6,000 times.

In an update, Rimmer said he was "touched" by the several dozen churches that invited his son to attend and worship the way he wanted as well as the countless parents of children with autism who offered their support.
The dean met with Rimmer, who said they had a positive conversation about how to make the chapel accessible to all its parishioners.

Public and private institutions like churches and schools aren't always sensory friendly for children and adults with autism. A 2018 study found that children with autism were nearly twice as likely to never attend religious services compared to children without the diagnosis, largely because they or their families felt unwelcome in places of worship.