The family of an autistic boy is claiming 'discrimination' after an incident saw him banned from cruise ships for life.
The Australian boy was nine when he lashed out at staff aboard a cruise in the Pacific Islands with his family.
Nathaniel Young's grandma claims his mum was forced to cancel her cruise ship wedding plans after finding her son had been blacklisted from the line due to the incident four years ago.
Nathaniel, who is now 13, was travelling with his family aboard a 10-day P & O Pacific Aria cruise in 2016 when his grandparents decided to do some sightseeing.
His grandparents told Australia's Nine News show A Current Affair they had registered his diagnosis and spoke to a staff member on the cruise line ahead of the holiday to ensure they were able to accommodate him on the ship.
Terry and Paul Young claim they were assured by the liner's kids' club staff they were able to leave him in their care while they went sightseeing in Fiji.
However shortly after his grandparents got ashore, they got a call asking them to return because Nathaniel had been involved in an incident aboard the ship.
The Youngs were told that Nathaniel had lashed out and bitten a cruise staff member after being told he had to go to the ship's dining room for lunch.
The family said cruise staff had touched Nathaniel to try to resolve the distress.
The Youngs say touching an autistic child is a known trigger, and the contact set him off.
It wasn't until Annette McKinnon tried to book Nathaniel into her dream cruise wedding with Carnival Cruises that she realised he had been black-listed a full four years after the incident.
She said she had been forced to cancel her wedding plans as a result of Nathaniel's ban.
"He was going to walk me down the aisle, of course I can't not have him there," she said.
Nathaniel told the current affairs show he felt bad about the incident.
"I feel very sorry for the person that I bit," he said.
Mrs Young told A Current Affair her grandson has changed and it's unfair to punish him forever.
"He's a different boy now. To say you're banned for life, I'm fighting this for Nate, for his future," she said.
A child therapist told the show it was discriminatory to ban a child for behaviour he may not be able to control,
A Carnival Cruises statement supplied to Nine News show A Current Affair said: "We are sympathetic to the family's position but we also remain concerned that a crew member on a previous cruise suffered a significant injury and, with the safety of guests and crew in mind, we do not wish to see such an incident repeated.
"While we believe it is too soon to accept a further booking, we do not rule out the possibility of a review of this position in the future when the passage of time and maturity might have improved the situation."
