Supermodel Natalia Vodianova Slams Cafe for Mistreating Autistic Sister
Photo: @natasupernova/Instagram
Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova, who’s been racking up runway shows, magazine covers, and fashion campaigns for the last 15 years, is now using her fame to defend her family and the rights of people with special needs: Namely, her younger sister Oksana, who has autism and cerebral palsy.
Vodianova, 33, took to her Facebook Wednesday to describe an incident that reportedly happened recently involving Oksana. According to the model, who now lives in Paris, 27-year-old Oksana and her caretaker stopped into a cafe in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod to get a drink and snack.
Though it’s unclear what sort of disruption occurred, Vodianova writes that the two women were then approached by the cafe’s owner, who told the caretaker, “Why don’t you leave? You’re scaring away all of our customers. Go get medical help for you and your child. And then go out in public.“
A security guard for the restaurant then threatened to "call the crazy house” and “lock [them] in the cellar” if Oksana and her caretaker did not leave immediately.
Vodianova’s mother soon arrived on the scene, along with the police—who, by Vodianova’s account—told the women that they were being "detained for minor hooliganism.“
Photo: @natasupernova/Instagram
The unfolding of events struck a chord with Vodianova, who founded a charity in 2004, called the Naked Heart Foundation, for disabled and underprivileged Russian kids. And now, surely to her delight, the authorities are getting involved.
According to Radio Free Europe, the Russian federal Investigative Committee said Thursday that it was opening an investigation that could land the cafe’s owner and other staff members in jail for up to five years, if convicted.
"Without any legal reason, the cafe director not only asked the unwelcome guests to leave the establishment but called for support from employees of a private security firm,” Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said, adding that the cafe staff had "rudely violated legislation protecting human rights.“
As always, there are always two sides to a story. The Daily Mail quotes an unnamed staff member of the cafe as saying that Oksana had wandered into a staff-only area at the time of the incident. The cafe owner’s son, Anar, elaborated, explaining that the bartender “saw she was not controlling herself. You see, well, she is a sick person. So the barman closed his door and she began to bang her head against this wall, And then she sat down on the floor.”
Whatever the outcome, Vodianova is proud that the incident is helping shed light on what she sees as the frequent mistreatment of disabled people in her home country.
"What happened to my sister Oksana… is not an isolated case,” she writes. “This is unfortunately the reality all families raising children with special needs experience. It’s difficult for me to talk about this, but I understand that this is an alarm bell for society that must be heard.”
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