In my mobility scooter yesterday

victory

I know I have posted a funny thread but what happened yesterday was not funny....

We had to get into a very hot stuffy long bendy room to queue for our tickets, had bought them already online just had to pick them up.

There was every age in that room and most angry, hot, frustrated and upset that they had such a long queue to contend with and were muttering and moaning, unfortunately for me I came in the wrong end of the two door to pick from, that was the front and had to get to the back.

The sea of people and the heat started making me nervous, there was no diasabled entrance and no one to help, so I kept apologizing trying to get to the back, no one wanted to move because they wanted to get out of there and get the tickets.

I became invisible to them and a right pain. No one smiled, no one was going to let me in so decided to get to the second door and go out and then see if I could ask someone who worked there to help.

The second door was jammed, the people around it would not move, one woman screamed at me I had run over her foot and I was a %^&*( and should be kept indoors.

I cried, great big gulfing sobs of frustration, there was nothing I could do, it seemed to me I have gone into a room full of yobs.

My son had got lost amongst it all, my OH was desperately trying to get to me, one woman stood up and said 'at least let the woman out, she is trying to get to the door'

Everyone made out they could not hear her or see me.

I panicked, I cried, I stopped the scooter and waited, I heard a man say 'why has she got to be in here? Just because she is disabled, she should get lost'

My husband found me sobbing, my son kept asking please to move, 20 minutes later we got out and eventually a worker came over and saw the commotion, took my order number off me and went and got my tickets.

An experience I never want to repeat

Anubis_2

Yes there is quite a lot of vitriol out there towards disabled, however there are also a lot of nice folk too. Try not to let the experience play on your mind, and put it down to ignorance.

snoopy89

yup, we have a lot a ignorant , stupid, thick silly people out there, but jusy ignor them as there are a lot of decent nice people that make up for the thick'os. just remember. you dont have to be like them. i always say, sticks and stones will brake my bones but words will never hurt. just plod on and best of luck.:D:beer:

victory

Thank you they seemed so anti me or anti the scooter one of the two

nlj1520

What a horrible experience! This is the sort of situation that should be avoidable if organisers plan for long queues that are going to present problems for scooters.
is it worth a quick email to the organisers to suggest alternative arrangements for those with disabilities to pick up their tickets?
I know at various attractions I waas allowed to use exit ramps etc to let my son access rides etc as he couldn't queue. (Mentally I mean not physically) As a tangential point I worked and worked on teaching him to queue and now he can!

Anubis_2

victory wrote: »

Thank you they seemed so anti me or anti the scooter one of the two

Anti-disabled. You will get some like they do on this forum, who will look at you as a benefit scrounger - your disabilities don't come into it, they just believe you are putting it on to maximize your benefits and therefore attempt to be difficult.

You will also get some that feel that just because you are disabled, you should not be given preference.

Then there are those who patronise, you know the ones who speak loud and s-l-o-w when they see you because they think your brain is disabled and you do not understand - therefore they see you as weak, and something to be challenged.

Then there are those who are really lovely and go out of their way to help you as much as they can - it is those folk who are worth it.

Dogs are my preference though, they never judge and accept you as you are and love you more than they love themselves - they rank way above most people IMHO.

Mrs_Arcanum

A horn or a bell may be an idea. Nevertheless there is no excuse for such inconsideration & lack of manners and whilst we still queue, consideration for those less able has sadly gone out the window. No wonder you were reduced to tears.

victory

Thanks anubis I had some lovely people help me and talk to me and look after me making sure I am alright etc and funny ones like in my other thread this is the first time I have encountered such hatred, ignorance, invisibleness, rudeness, it was like I was not there, I was just an inconvenience in a scooter, not a person, not with feelings, not someone that was stuck in a room full of people desperately trying to get out of it and their way, I just wanted to get up and run as fast as I could and I can't do that can I?

I did get the just because you are disabled you should not be here or get the preference vibe many times.

I have had many a person talk to me slowly and loudly and patronizing me:D no one in that room even wanted to treat me as a human with feeling.

I am really shaken up by it and keep putting off going out today.

victory

Mrs_Arcanum wrote: »

A horn or a bell may be an idea. Nevertheless there is no excuse for such inconsideration & lack of manners and whilst we still queue, consideration for those less able has sadly gone out the window. No wonder you were reduced to tears.

I have a horn which mostly I try not to use as it annoys people and they tutt at me and look at the scooter then at me as if to say so what, why should I move, what rights do you have to bib me out of the way, so I really try not to use it but I did use it and it just added to the hatred vibe they gave out.

victory

nlj1520 wrote: »

What a horrible experience! This is the sort of situation that should be avoidable if organisers plan for long queues that are going to present problems for scooters.
is it worth a quick email to the organisers to suggest alternative arrangements for those with disabilities to pick up their tickets?
I know at various attractions I waas allowed to use exit ramps etc to let my son access rides etc as he couldn't queue. (Mentally I mean not physically) As a tangential point I worked and worked on teaching him to queue and now he can!

Thank you I have emailed them because I would never want anyone to go through that and surely there was more than just me 'the disabled one' that has been in that situation trying to get the tickets, it must have happened before, there was only one queue, I asked for a different one, somewhere else to go and was directed to the back of the line.

Anubis_2

victory wrote: »

Thanks anubis I had some lovely people help me and talk to me and look after me making sure I am alright etc and funny ones like in my other thread this is the first time I have encountered such hatred, ignorance, invisibleness, rudeness, it was like I was not there, I was just an inconvenience in a scooter, not a person, not with feelings, not someone that was stuck in a room full of people desperately trying to get out of it and their way, I just wanted to get up and run as fast as I could and I can't do that can I?

I did get the just because you are disabled you should not be here or get the preference vibe many times.

I have had many a person talk to me slowly and loudly and patronizing me:D no one in that room even wanted to treat me as a human with feeling.

I am really shaken up by it and keep putting off going out today.

I can't get out much at all - I can count on one hand the number of times I get out for half an hour in a full year, excluding hospital/drs visits and I am really glad in some ways that I have to stay in.

Oh the patronizing ones are the best - I used to get it all the time, and also talking to my carer like I was not there "Oh, what a shame, what is wrong with her, it must be hard to push that wheelchair etc..." while I am sat right there!

As humans though we tend to focus on the negative - if ten people said we were beautiful, and one person said we were ugly, we would spend the next few days focusing on the single ugly comment, rather than being positive about the ten beautiful comments.

What you have to try and do is turn it around - like you said it was the first time - but look at the all the times you have had lovely people helping you, so focus on the positivity you have experienced and let the negative go