Vandals Target Brewery Employing People With Special Needs

ENGLEWOOD, CO — Someone in the Denver area thinks people with autism shouldn’t be able to get jobs in the alcohol industry, as shown by a series of vandalism messages apparently targeting Brewability & Pizzability, a restaurant and brewery on Broadway in Englewood that employs people with disabilities.

"It's heartbreaking because you can see it hurts our employees," Tiffany Fixter, owner of the business, told ABC.

Fixter has posted on Facebook about three vandalism incidents in the past two weeks.

“Alcohol and autism don’t mix,” was written in marker on a piece of cardboard, a post dated May 14 shows.

On May 20, the business’ Facebook page shows photos of two more messages: one stating “why do we want autistic people to know how to be drunk?” and “Sign up for autistic AA meetings at our other location. Save our Saints from freak shows and alcoholism.”

The “Alcohol and autism don’t mix” message was shown again, more prominently, on a dumpster, on May 21.

Police in Englewood have confirmed an investigation, according to KUSA. Englewood police Sgt. Tracy Jones said the owners of Brewability may have had a confrontation with a patron that possibly led to the notes, according to the news report.

Fixter opened Brewability to teach the brewing to special needs people and help them gain experience in the industry, she told KUSA.

"They have right. They're not children. They have a right to work. They have a right to have a shift beer at a brewery just like any other brewery employee," she told the news station.

Aaron Harris has worked at the brewery for a number of years, telling KUSA he feels a bit unsafe after the recent string of vandalism.

"I've got autism myself," Harris said. "I don’t let that stuff get to me, what people wrote on there, but I still don’t like it.”

The vandalism reports are a continuation of problems Fixter said have been going on ever since opening the business at its former location in Denver in 2016.

"When I first came up with the idea, I had death threats," she told KUSA. "If you don't like it, just don't come here."