source: starpulse.com
Supermodel Natalia Vodianova is blasting the owner of a cafe in her native Russia because of how he treated her disabled sister. Vodianova’s sister, Oksana who suffers from autism and cerebral palsy, was reportedly ordered out of the Russian cafe and told to ‘go and get cured’ before returning because she was scaring other customers. Oksana, 27, was also harshly threatened with being locked in a cellar while the an ambulance from the psychiatric service was called. Vodianova says that she and Oksana were with her carer when they decided to stop at a cafe in the family’s home city of Nizhny Novgorod. ‘It was a middle of the week and there was nobody there – just one client,’ said the 33-year-old supermodel.
Vodianova says that she and her sister were treated rudely almost as soon as the moment they sat down. A waitress came up to them and told them that they could not stay there without ordering food and the cafe owner rudely came over and said, “Come on, go away. You are scaring all our clients away.” He also told them to “Go and get cured and cure you child first. And only then you come to the public place.” The carer told the cafe owner that it was best to let Oksana calm down before they left but the owner refused and threatened to call the police on them. The carer called Vodianova’s mother about the situation. ‘While my mother was on her way,the security guard stood next to Oksana and this is what he said: “You go away, or we will call the psychiatric service. We will call an ambulance and lock you in the cellar,” Vodianova said. When the sisters’ mother showed up it was she who was actually taken to the police station. No charges were filed on both parts but both Vodianova her mother have submitted complaints about the cafe owner. “I feel so sorry for my mother and for Oksana, and for our nanny who bravely coped with the situation,” said Vodianova, who runs the Naked Heart charity, which supports Russian families raising disabled children, among other things. “It was the owner of this cafe who should have been taken to the station for abuse and discrimination. Why was it my mother?”