Vile old lady

lostinrates

horrid experience.

Playing devils advocate, the woman might have reason to be scared if knocked into. I have a neurological condition, sometimes when slightly buffetted I yelp in pain. Instinctively. I hope I wouldn't follow it with a tirade of abuse. It might be though she had reason to fear causing the inappropriate outburst that was invisable to you....and she might genuinely have been to self involved to see your daughter's invisability. I hope the poor girl wasn't too distressed by it.

I agree that being frail, if she was, is no excuse for rudeness, but it can sometimes be a reason. I think a lot of people here have been rude too, and I don't think reassuring OP, which is necessary, is excuse for that either!

VfM4meplse

Try not be be angry, it won't do you any good. You love your daughter and made your point, if the woman didn't wish to listen then I'm sure her ignorance will come back to bite her at some point in the future. At least you didn't show the same ignorance back to her. As Sagz said, karma.

balletshoes

Just_Plain_Jane wrote: »

Ignorant old b!tch.

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

exactly this - some folk are nasty thoughtless cretins who shouldn't be out in public.

Just_Plain_Jane

lostinrates wrote: »

Playing devils advocate, the woman might have reason to be scared if knocked into. I have a neurological condition, sometimes when slightly buffetted I yelp in pain. Instinctively. I hope I wouldn't follow it with a tirade of abuse. It might be though she had reason to fear causing the inappropriate outburst that was invisable to you....and she might genuinely have been to self involved to see your daughter's invisability.

So what's your explanation for her comment after she was told that the child is disabled? That didn't sound like a knee-jerk reaction to me.

ALIBOBSY

I am always amazed by the fact that as a society we assume someone who is old will be nice and polite and honest. Whilst i have utmost respect for the majority of older people who are in the whole warm friendly and lovely to be around, like every generation there are some scummy nasty peices of work. sadly rude horrible and dishonest young people, tend to becomes rude horrible dishonest grumpy old people.

Try to let it go op, she may well have felt bad about it later when she thought about it and realised she over reacted but its too late then. vent away on here and to your friends and family then let it go, lifes too short to worry about what other people think.

Ali x

donteatthat

Nicki regardless of your daughters disability these things happen with kids full stop as they are often not looking where they are going, but even to adults when someone suddenly stops in front of them or is meandering about without a care in the world for who is behind them. It's always so upsetting / disappointing to come across unpleasantness, but nonetheless the world is full of nasty pieces of work from all generations. A long time ago I realised that biting my tongue and walking away from situations like these just made me more annoyed afterwards so people like her now get both barrels from me when I feel it is required.

flippin36

Hello niki, you're not alone. Just wanted to say my child is the same and going out can be very stressful - and stuff happens all the time, people stare, make comments, make judgements. Just going to the supermarket has ended in tears (mine mostly). Sometimes I feel like never leaving the house again but thats not really an option, so we just have to become deaf and blind to things and get on with raising our children the best we can. Hope you are feeling ok now, tomorrows another day. MOST people are educated and smart enough to see disabilities and make allowances for them especially in children. Chin up.

lolseh

I used to volunteer with teens who had learning problems like autism. Some like your daughter couldn't speak and when out in puclic would make different noises so of course people decided to just stare at them.. Well I soon realised if I stared back they felt uncomfortable and moved on.

As for older people and disablities in younger people.. It's always older people who give me the dirty looks because I have a blue badge!!

make_me_wise

Nicki wrote: »

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:

Urghhhh I cannot abide people like that. How can someone get to that age and be so unnecesarily rude and offensive to a young child. I am speechless for you.

Has that daft lady led such a sheltered life that she doesn't know that not all disabilities are totally visible to others. She ought to be ashamed of herself. I hope your little girl is okay.

Rest assured you handled the situation impecably and should hold your head high for remaining dignified. Something I doubt could ever be used to describe that 70 year old!

I believe in karma OP, I bet on the way back to her car some real hooligan pushed the old dear in for a swim with the fishes, when she came out with another cutting smart !!!! remark.

make_me_wise

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".

I disagree with you. This woman was gently bumped into. There was no risk of her falling or breaking any bones. There was nothing honest about her mistake. She completely overreacted and saw fit to be aggressive and extremely offensive to a disabled child and her family. Someone like that, in my opinion, does not deserve to be called anything other than the words used by people in this thread. Respect of anyone, even the elderly, has to be earned. This particular woman did nothing to gain anyones respect.

Telling people to replace their words with "black" is completely irrelevant to this thread as I think you are well aware.