Imagine if you will leaving the house without having an encounter with an Ableist asshole.
Guy behind the counter: gesturing at my wheelchair “What happened?”
Me: “I was born.”
Him: “No, but what HAPPENED.”
Me: “I was born.”
Him: “No, but what… HAPPENED.” (gesturing more wildly at my chair, like I somehow didn’t understand his fucking rude question the first two times)
.
Fuck you? I’m just trying to check out here. I don’t have to answer personal medical questions from complete strangers.
Also, I’m used to this bullshit from Baby Boomers but this was a Millenial, so if y’all hear someone spouting this bullshit I’d really appreciate if you’d take the asshole out back and teach him some goddamned manners already.
Had no less than three people grab my cane today when I had leaned it against something because apparently it was proof I didn’t need it. No Sheryl its just proof I need two hands sometimes.
Also had a store employee accuse me of being drunk because I wobble a few feet away from my cart without my cane to grab something; she almost threw me out.
A day without abelists would be divine
Oh damn the amount of times I’ve been called weird for things I do to help with sensory issues.
Me: *covering my ears during a fire drill*
Person: dOnT thAts wEirD
Me: *eating my food one at a time* (finishing each food before I move onto the next)
Person: here have some of this
Me: ok let me finish this first
Person: what why
Me: *explains*
Person: yOu cAnT rEaLly haTe iT thAt mUcH iTs nOt thAt baD jUst eAt thiS
Me: *stimming happily*
Person: doNt dO thAt qUieT hAndS
Me: *existing*
Person: AUSTIM IS BAD FEAR IT
Don’t forget:
Me: *gets vaccine*
Person: No WoNdEr YoU aRe AuTiStIc
Me: did you pass high school biology?
Person: Yes, why?
Me: Clearly you have retained nothing.
Person: Oh YoU pOoR rEtArDeD tHiNg!!!! SeE eVeRyOnE!? VaCcInEs DiD tHiS tO a PoOr InNoCeNt ChIlD!!!
Me: checking out at the grocery store
Complete stranger: says “Excuse me” as he grabs my shoulder for balance and starts climbing over my wheelchair like a fucking piece of furniture
Me: “What in the actual hell are you doing?!! You don’t CLIMB OVER PEOPLE. Touching strangers is ASSAULT. What is wrong with you?!?”
Complete stranger: stops climbing over me; looks really angry
Me: proceeds to rant for the entire time the cashier checks me out about Ableists and the fact that people in wheelchairs are often fragile and how you should never touch strangers anyway because it’s ASSAULT
Cashier: looks embarrassed and apologizes several times
Me: tells the cashier it’s not his fault that people are assholes
Complete stranger: still looks angry, but carefully stays about 10’ away from me
…why would you ever do that to anyone? Especially someone you don’t know and ESPECIALLY someone already in a wheelchair who is probably also already in pain?
I have no fucking clue? But according to other wheelchair users apparently this happens quite a bit. And if I hadn’t known that, I would have been even more shocked since this was my first experience with someone trying to climb completely over me. And I might not have recovered from my shock fast enough to rip this guy a new asshole (which he truly deserved).
The other WTF I hear from other wheelchair users is Ableds just pulling them out of line/otherwise moving their chair to get by, which makes me wonder if he tried that first. I have a power chair so I wouldn’t necessarily have noticed.
And yeah my shoulder hurt for a couple hours after that, so thanks for that gift Mr. Ableist Asshole.
