Unsuspecting public- things they have said!

[hatter]

A bit of light relief-

 

I'm sure we all get comments when were out and about with our special children - sometimes I'm really cross at the time, but on re-telling the story I can see the funny side. Other times I let it wash over me, oblivious to the fact that I'll be thinking 'how dare she say that about my child!' a few hours down the line.

 

Two spring to mind

 

I was seriously struggling to get Ivan round Tesco, first I made the awful mistake of throwing his half-eaten cheese dipper away- I'd offered it to him several times with no interest - but now he's protesting loudly and trying to get into the bin. Then a lady with balloons comes over to try and cheer him up- as you can imagine that went down badly . I struggle round the shop with the usual thrashing and screaming and all the time keep my cool. Then Ivan refused to leave the shop and walk the 20 yards or so to the car. I wait patiently for about 10 minutes- I can't carry him and the shopping, I can't take the shopping to the car in case he runs out after me (yes, I know I should've used a trolley). I can't leave the shopping and take Ivan, because that sends him into even more of a frenzy- by now I'm starting to get agitated.

 

Then a shop assistant comes over and says (in a broad Yorkshire accent) 'so they've not cured him yet' I could've swung for her! but was too stressed and upset at this point to say anything

 

Another time Ivan was enjoying 'swimming' on the floor in Morrisons (he lays down and slides along the smooth floor- on every isle we visit). This is not a problem if it's not too busy (it wasn't busy), or if I'm not in a rush (I wasn't), so we were pretty relaxed about things. A daft old lady pretended to nearly run him over and said 'beep beep' - Ivan didn't react at all- I just slid him out of the way. All very relaxed- no problems at all.

 

A couple of isles later we see the same daft old lady (she's only being friendly) who says ' I know what it's like my dear- I've just taken my dog to the vets' !!! I just smile and get on with it. Then I think later 'who the hell is she, comparing my lad to her dog - I know it was harmless enough- sometimes I read too much into things.

 

feel free to add more.......

[George]

I was in M&S and Jamie sat down on the floor crying - (my fault, didn't get the grapes first!) - an old woman said "I like to shop in peace! is he a bit (she made a circular motion with her finger pointed at her head)

 

I was so angry

[smiley]

my son, who's 6, is difficult to take shopping.... thought i'd brave it a few saturdays ago, desperatley needed some bits and he seemed up for it.... after 10 frustrated minutes watching him like a hawk (he's a wanderer), i managed to get to the checkout. i was smugly putting things on the belt, really pleased with my little man and myself, when i hear a scream... michael had been playing on the piece of metal piping that runs along the edge of the wall (to stop the trolleys bumping the wall) and got his knee caught. several people ran to help him (which was lovely) but michael doesn't like people he doesn't know touching him... so he screamed louder. i had to say - quite loudly, because there were so many people - "thank you for your help,but please don't touch him".... one guy was fantastic, he told michael he wasn't going near him, just pulling the pipe so he could get his leg free. the others stood, staring... once michael was freed i said thank you to the people staring and was told "you shouldn't let him out at the weekends dear, it will upset people". i'm usually gutsy and can take it, but i have to say i cried all the way home.

on a brighter note... when michael is feeling out of his depth in social situations, he adopts an american accent.... the amount of people who say to us "are you over hear on your holidays?"

[Tally]

It's a shame there isn't yet a cure for idiocy.

[smallworld]

I shirked on replying to this thread yesterday cos it was too raw for me.

Please remember that for us 'blunt' yorkshire people that 'blunt' means 'not right sharp' ! I get these comments all the time, but the woman doing 'loony' circling motions was what really got to me. If there's a law against racial hatred, then surely this is 'disabled hatred' ?Smileymab's comments made me feel the same. I'm sorry, I normally ignore most comments, but these two would have had me in full 'mad mummy' mode, and 'normal decent' behaviour would have ceased !

[hatter]

Yes, I realise that introducing this topic as a bit of light refief was not really appropriate, some examples are really sad. Ivan is still quite young (and small) so a lot of his 'behaviour' is attributed to him being at the 'terrible twos' stage, though this won't happen for much longer, and then I will probably find out how cruel people can be (whether intentionally or not ) I suppose it really is a question of ignorance, where people don't even realise (usually) that they are even referring to a disabled person, so are completely unaware of the effect of their words etc