'Stole her wheelchair': Aussie café blasted for sign making light of domestic violence, disabilities

'Stole her wheelchair': Aussie café blasted for sign making light of domestic violence, disabilities
Photo credit: Facebook / Seddon Deadly Sins

An Australian café has come under fire for a poor taste joke that appears to make light of abuse and disability.

Seddon Deadly Sins in Melbourne put a sign outside their café on Wednesday. 

The sign read: "My girlfriend broke up with me so I stole her wheelchair... guess who came crawling back", and a photo of it was shared to the café's social media account.

'Stole her wheelchair': Aussie café blasted for sign making light of domestic violence, disabilities
Photo credit: Facebook / Seddon Deadly Sins

Almost immediately, customers began to point out how inappropriate and inflammatory the "joke" was.

"This is explicitly a joke about domestic violence, and it targets a demographic that experiences violence at significantly higher rates," one user said.

People with disabilities are more likely to be abused both as children and adults than people without disabilities, according to New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse.

"Any café that thinks jokes about abuse and violence against disabled people is NOT a community café worth supporting," said another.

The café's owner, Chris Gooden, initially stood by the board, saying it was just a "silly pun," 7 News reports.

But as controversy continued to build, Mr Gooden deleted his initial post, writing: "Today I made the mistake of making light of something that I had not considered to be a brutal reality for some people.

"I'm ashamed that it took me this long 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."

Many people accepted Mr Goodens apology, and said they would return to his café. Others were not so forgiving.

"Scrambling around to save your profit margin is the only motivation for your fake apology," wrote one furious commenter 

"Your now deleted post had 4 pathetic attempts of defending why domestic violence against a woman with a disability is funny and "just a silly pun"."

Another backed this up, saying: "It's a bit sad that you brushed off countless complaints and refused to apologise until a friend made you acknowledge that it was out of line."

Newshub.