Vile old lady

Nicki

We are on holiday at the moment with the kids including Dd who is very severely autistic with learning difficulties. Part of her disability makes her very clumsy and also prone to flapping her arms when stressed. She has no speech and babbles like a baby most of the time, though not very loudly. It is obvious to anyone who sees her that she is severely disabled, to the extent that we have often been stopped going into public attractions by staff to check that we have claimed a disabled discount even if we haven't said anything.

Today we went to a pub for lunch, and afterwards were leaving via a fairly narrow path to the car park. There was an older couple walking in front of us, not decrepit, but aged about 70 or so. They stopped on this narrow pathway suddenly to look at some fish in the pond to one side, and my dd who was also turned sideways looking at the fish, bumped gently into the back of the woman.

Obviously I apologized immediately, as you would instinctively do, but the old lady turned round and started to berate my dd, who had no understanding at all of what had happened. I apologised again and added that she was disabled and hadn't meant to bump into her. To which the vile old hag responded " she's not disabled, she's just a hooligan"

Perhaps fortunately I was so angry I was completely speechless, and my OH didn't hear so she was able to walk away without the massive flea in her ear she deserves! However 2 hours later I am still livid.

Not moneysaving at all I guess, and just a rant really, but some people are just completely beyond the pale :mad:

londonirish_3

oh please!!! if she were a hooligan she would have pushed the miserable old bat in the pond!!!!

I have spent many a day in tears because of people treating my little brother (he has autism) like that xx

Just_Plain_Jane

Ignorant old b!tch.

Give her comments no further thought, she's not worth the effort.

Rebecca01

An old women shouted at my two year old once for accidently bumping into her.

Some people are not worth your anger or thought. They are just ignorant.

londonirish_3

Sadly to put it out of your mind is so difficult, I am fiercely protective of my little brother, we have has awful awful comments from adults teens old people. When someone says something like that ( especially if we are having a good day, no seizures, everything just lovely, to put up with comments like that old lady caN crush you. However, I HAD to learn to let things go otherwise I would be in prison now!

Sagz_2

Do you believe in Karma OP?

The old baggage will get hers one day

mountainofdebt

Nicki wrote: »

To which the vile old hag responded " she's not disabled, she's just a hooligan"

At which point I think I would have responded 'yes, and I guess many people make the mistake of thinking that you are a lady as well'.

Eton_Rifle

The ageism shown by almost all of the posters in this thread is far worse than the lady's honest mistake.

When you're old, frailer, less steady on your feet and an apparently misbehaving child bumps into you, let's see how you all react when it's your bones that can be easily broken if you fall. Injuries can be much more serious at that age.

The lady was absolutely wrong to react in such a manner but fear of ending up in a wheelchair or being on a long waiting list for a hip replacement is understandable.

Some of you should try replacing "black" for "old" and "hag" in your replies and then we'll see who is truly "ignorant".

Person_one

Eton_Rifle wrote: »

The ageism shown by almost all of the posters in this thread is far worse than the lady's honest mistake.

When you're old, frailer, less steady on your feet and an apparently misbehaving child bumps into you, let's see how you all react when it's your bones that can be easily broken if you fall. Injuries can be much more serious at that age.

The lady was absolutely wrong to react in such a manner but fear of ending up in a wheelchair or being on a long waiting list for a hip replacement is understandable.

Some of you should try replacing "black" for "old" and "hag" in your replies and then we'll see who is truly "ignorant".

Don't be so ridiculous.

Being frail does not give anyone an excuse for name calling. Accidents happen, the OP apologised and explained. The most the old woman could have said was "Please be more careful, my balance is poor and I nearly fell."

I assure you that my blind, barely mobile elderly grandmother would never treat your daughter like this, getting older doesn't give you carte blanche to be rude.

Nicki

How is it an honest mistake to say that an obviously disabled child, is "not disabled but just a hooligan"? That is my complaint, not that she initially reacted angrily. And to be clear, my daughter stumbled against her and touched her very lightly. There was no risk at all from that encounter of the lady falling over or getting injured in any way.

This lady was out for a nice day with her husband. My child will never be able to go out without someone to look after her for lunch. She will never get married. She will probably never speak, read or write. She will never have anything approaching the kind of life this lady enjoys. Her life would be immeasurably better if the worst that would ever happen to her is that she might spend time in a wheelchair waiting for an operation.

Furthermore, my dd was not "apparently misbehaving". What happened, could easily have happened to an adult following behind this couple. It was a simple accident caused by them stopping suddenly but contributed to by my daughter not having the understanding, attention span and control over her own movements to stop very sharply herself.

Gigglepig

I don't think there was any need for her to be rude, particularly if you immediately apologised to her. Perhaps from this lady's point of view perhaps she'd prefer kids to be under control so they don't bump into her, whether they are disabled or not.