Wheelchair Syndrome

serenity79

I'm not so much with the wheelchair rage, but since being in the wheelchair more, and having my blue badge, my husband says I've become something of a 'blue badge nazi':o When we're parking I always like to have a check on the other cars to make sure they've got their badges on display, and if they don't I like to have a bit of a moan about it. Especially when it means all the bays are filled up and we have to park in a regular space and try to manage. Or the other day I was giving off stink because 'disabled parking' obviously translated to 'Taxi rank' for one taxi driver. I sat and watched to make sure it wasn't a disabled passenger he was picking up, but a sprightly young woman walked jauntily from the store to the car and there was no blue badge in sight, so I think my grumbling was justified! :rotfl:

A couple of days ago we went to a garden centre and their ONE disabled space was full of plants and flowerpots. I was all set to make a complaint there and then, I was absolutely :mad: but my husband wouldn't let me, I think he was embarrassed and worried about what I might say in the heat of the moment, heehee. I still fully intend to send them an email though, what an absolutely ridiculous thing to do.

rosysparkle

Being at fart and fag height is not so much fun. I get rage at the patronising, pitying looks and at the conspicuous parenting - "Tarquin, mind out for the lady, her legs don't work, ha ha" - and at the people who simply don't see me.

serenity79

rosysparkle wrote: »

Being at fart and fag height is not so much fun. I get rage at the patronising, pitying looks and at the conspicuous parenting - "Tarquin, mind out for the lady, her legs don't work, ha ha" - and at the people who simply don't see me.

Oh yeah, I know what you mean there. I've lost count at how many times I've been stared at. Just the other day I was out shopping with my husband, we were at Thorntans and he bought me a tub of ice cream. He wanted to go into the Nike store but I wasn't bothered so I got him to park the Quattro (my loving nickname for my wheelchair, I am a HUGE Ashes to Ashes fan!) by the benches and I'd eat my ice cream while he did his spot of shopping. So I'm eating and minding my own business when this man walks right up to me and goes "oooh, you're happy!" in a kind of 'aww, good for you" voice. A little taken aback, I said "Yeah, life's pretty good." You know, despite everything, it is, so yeah. Then he gives me this big condescending smile like you might give a child who has just learned to go potty and walked off, saying something about 'finding a happy place' as he went. I was a little bit :exclamati about it! It was as if he assumed that just because my legs don't work, my brain doesn't either! :mad:

Was it the wheelchair or the ice cream that gave me away, I wonder....

littlerat

serenity79 wrote: »

Oh yeah, I know what you mean there. I've lost count at how many times I've been stared at. Just the other day I was out shopping with my husband, we were at Thorntans and he bought me a tub of ice cream. He wanted to go into the Nike store but I wasn't bothered so I got him to park the Quattro (my loving nickname for my wheelchair, I am a HUGE Ashes to Ashes fan!) by the benches and I'd eat my ice cream while he did his spot of shopping. So I'm eating and minding my own business when this man walks right up to me and goes "oooh, you're happy!" in a kind of 'aww, good for you" voice. A little taken aback, I said "Yeah, life's pretty good." You know, despite everything, it is, so yeah. Then he gives me this big condescending smile like you might give a child who has just learned to go potty and walked off, saying something about 'finding a happy place' as he went. I was a little bit :exclamati about it! It was as if he assumed that just because my legs don't work, my brain doesn't either! :mad:

Was it the wheelchair or the ice cream that gave me away, I wonder....

A few years before I was born my grandpa had a bleed on his spine that left him paralysed from the waist down, and he always hated the people that seemed to think he couldn't talk - his top half worked perfectly well! :rotfl:

Dad rathers to hobble on 1 - 2 crutches (shoulder problems mean he can often only use 1 now) than use a wheelchair as other people just drive him up the wall!

I have a question for the wheelchair/scooter people in this thread - do you ever have issues with asking people to get stuff from high up shelves? Not sure if cornish are just horrid people, the amount of times I've seen someone struggling and nobody will offer a hand, or even them asking and people are ignoring them instead of taking 2 seconds out their day:eek: I imagine that must be annoying!

mum2one

Another mini rant....... able bodied people that don't bother to say thank you, or have manners gone, if someone is behind me (on crutches) keep the door open, do I get a thank you, no nothing like its your expected to..... and people carrying umberalla, why do they carry them out under their arm, I've lost count of the number of times I've huffed and puffed esp when my daughter was in her pushchair.

Don't know if anyone read the tv in thurs Sun, there filming a new series and xmas special of Bendiorm starting in Aug, the hotel they used have now banned all mobility scooters as people were going for a ride, whilst drunk!!

Numpty_Monkey

dnpuckitt is a spammer:spam:

mum2one

:mad:

serenity79 wrote: »

I'm not so much with the wheelchair rage, but since being in the wheelchair more, and having my blue badge, my husband says I've become something of a 'blue badge nazi':o When we're parking I always like to have a check on the other cars to make sure they've got their badges on display, and if they don't I like to have a bit of a moan about it. Especially when it means all the bays are filled up and we have to park in a regular space and try to manage. Or the other day I was giving off stink because 'disabled parking' obviously translated to 'Taxi rank' for one taxi driver. I sat and watched to make sure it wasn't a disabled passenger he was picking up, but a sprightly young woman walked jauntily from the store to the car and there was no blue badge in sight, so I think my grumbling was justified!

A couple of days ago we went to a garden centre and their ONE disabled space was full of plants and flowerpots. I was all set to make a complaint there and then, I was absolutely :mad: but my husband wouldn't let me, I think he was embarrassed and worried about what I might say in the heat of the moment, heehee. I still fully intend to send them an email though, what an absolutely ridiculous thing to do.

I'd of gone mad, its unbelievable there quick to take our money from us, one occassion a few yrs ago, (blame in on the hormones!!!), been to a certain value supermarket, and out of 8 disabled parking places there was only 1 blue badge displayed, what annoyed me most was they had a "private security guard" who was meant to be handing out fines but was too busy texting on his phone.....:mad:

So went inside, grabbed a trolley, tins etc, nothing that was pershiable, got to the checkout and the cashier said, you need to put the items on the conveyer belt were not Tesco don't have the staff to help.:mad:.... so very politey I asked her to get the manager, she did and explained that I hadn't emptied the trolley, he starts lecturing her about disability policies, and as a goodwill gesture he'll unload the trolley, :Dgot it all on the conveyor belt, he told the cashier to wait and he would pack for me.....:cool: - then when she was ready, I said slightly louder, I don't want the shopping, as I was unable to park in the disabled parking,as there being breeched by able bodied people (hoping that someone in the queue would go red!!), and his security guard was as much use as a chocolate teapot,:rotfl: and as I'd struggled to do the shopping, :cool:I've changed my mind and go and order online at Tesco....... the manager was gobsmacked!!

debbiedeboo

For me it's the loss of autonomy. I don't feel I have the freedom to do what I want or look at what I want. I have a fairly quiet voice so if I ask my carer to stop so I can look at something he sometimes doesn't hear me and he goes past it, then he asks me to raise my voice then I feel like a little child saying in a loud voice 'I wanted to look at that thing we just passed'. I get really upset and sometimes it makes me cry so I'm in my wheelchair sobbing. Also the clothes rails in the shops and stuff, I feel hemmed in by them and claustrophobic and they give me panic attacks especially if there are a lot of people in the shop. I also get panicky in crowds as we are always having to stop suddenly or swerve out of people's way and I get very very stressed and upset and irritable. By the time we have finished I am a nervous wreck, exhausted and probably been in tears at some point. I then have to go home, suffer the pain brought on by the stress and then sleep for four hours. I seriously and profoundly hate being in a wheelchair.

sock-knitter

some people, not all, but some in mobility scooters are just so rude, and think they are the only people around
on holiday with my ex last year, a lady in a scooter, had said excuse me, but he obviously didnt hear as it was crowded, instead of repeating it louder, she just ran straight over his foot.
obviously in pain, it was a bit scooter and a big lady, and his foot was bruised for weeks afterwards, he said didnt you see me? she replied, yes, but i asked you to move and you didnt:mad: she ran over his foot on purpose

debbiedeboo

Hi
I'm not excusing the rude scooter users behaviour but sometimes when I'm out in the wheelchair my carer starts to lose patience and after maybe about the 30th 'excuse me' which gets ignored he can lose his temper a bit and stick his elbows out as he goes past. I get upset when he does it because I'm the one who gets glared at and muttered at ('wheelchair users think they own the planet' type comments). Obviously the person at the receiving end doesn't know they are the latest in a long, frustrating line of people who have walked into me, bumped into me, refused to move, glared at me when I've said 'excuse me' or plain ignored me. Just unlucky I guess. I apologise on behalf of my carer anyway but he does get mightily frustrated.