Again, PC can eat my ass. This is about ignorance.
My Dear Mun has scoliosis in a way that makes her an interesting medical case-book. Her X-rays are used by arguably britains Best spinal surgeon in lectures world-wide etc. Anyway, I'm not trying to dance to fame on someone elses back - as it were.



MY Mum, when walking has to suffer her ribcage crashing into her pelvis. Not only is this excruciatingly painful, but the noise sets teeth on edge. She is on enough Warferine to cause the average person to hemorrhage to death, and an hourly dose of painkillers that would render a child unconcious. When time gets bad she has an armoury of Morphine lollipops. She hates resorting to them as she thinks it makes her look weak.

With various complications like osteoperosis Sjögren's disease, chronic constipation and so on she's a walking wreck... but when it's time to play at shopping, - and my GOD does she play - she uses her wheelchair. Without it she's in agony after 2 minutes of walking. She tries for longer... but she simply can't do it.

People seem to gawp, but hey, that's cool, they also stand to one side and make way. It's like having your pwn personal cow-shifter..
The one thing that bugs me is when we pull up to a garden center (for example) and park in a handicapped spot. Mum gets out and hobbles to the rear of the car waiting for me to erect her wheelchair, and some utter ass-hat mutters - in a deliberately audible and snooty way - "If she can walk she doesn't need that chair"

Charles Darwin once said "Ignorance begets confidence more frequently than does knowledge"
I've used it many times, and will us it many more.

It makes my blood BOIL, but I usually manage to curb my retorts to lines like "And what would an arrogant ignoramous like you know about living with a disability that effects your entire life? - and before you answer - your chronic stupidity is not classed as a disability"

Anyway.... I'm not here to rant.. I'm not here to say "My mum's as tough as boots: worship her" I'm going to tell you about one of the things that made me giggle last time i was in the UK.

Mum and I had gone through the ritual of being starred at and listening to ingorant comments... she's got herself the Phostrogen and the squirty-bits that her watering system seems to devour weekly, and we'd deliberated for ages about some gadget or another... We got to the checkout, and the lass behind the counter wound up her voice and announced down to my mum "THAT WILL BE FOURTEEN NINTEY-SEVEN DEAR"

Mum, Cool as a cucumber and smiling her usual wry smile replied "I'm neither deaf nor retarded, I've just got a problem with my spine; there's no need to shout. Here's 15 quid, keep the change dear".

Length? She's 5'3" and getting shorter.
( Humpty Dumpty was Pushed Is unaware of having any limits., Fri 23 Nov 2007, 9:21, 9 replies)

:(
I feel for both of you having to put up with comments from ignorant fucktards like that, they think just a 10 second glance will reveal everything they need to know about something.

All the best to youns...
( Firkinfedup last shat on your wife's tits at, Fri 23 Nov 2007, 9:35, closed)

Fvkwits
Is it possible to fit some sort of death-ray to the wheelchair, so that if any smart-arsed twats give you or your mum any grief she can nuke them?

Just because someone can shuffle two feet from the front of the car to the back doesn't mean they can make it round Tesco without being in agony.
(ToysForBigBoys would spread her legs for Nick Clegg., Fri 23 Nov 2007, 10:44, closed)

The mother of one of my best friends has Scoliolis.
Nowhere near as bad as your mum, but she is in a lot of pain, and it's getting worse all the time. She's also a fiercely intelligent academic, who lectures in physics. All of her students and colleagues respect her no end.

But when shopping (I used to go to the supermarket with them frequently as we shared lifts into town), she would get stared at, people spoke SLOWLY AND LOUDLY to her, thinking she was retarded, and get the local chavs who hang out at Tescos shouting things ("hag", "cripple", "munter", "freak") at her because they think it's funny. Twats.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Fri 23 Nov 2007, 12:13, closed)

It's also worth poiinting out...
... That if someone uses the word "disabled" around her she has no problem at all... after all, she is not as able as other people...

Lass behind a till referred to her in a shop as a "disabled lady" and the lass's manager harshly repremanded her infront of my mother saying "It's not right to refer to this poor lady as disabled, you must refer to her as "mobility-challenged""

My mum nearly shat herself laughing and told the manager not to be so bloody stupid, and then added as an after-thought "Referring to me as a "poor lady" and discussing me as though I wasn't here is by FAR the most insensitive and insulting thing that has happened to me all year: You're clearly in no position to lecture others in etiquette"
The grin on the till-lasses' face as my mum winked up at her was priceless.
( Humpty Dumpty was Pushed Is unaware of having any limits., Fri 23 Nov 2007, 13:06, closed)

Admiration & respect.
Your mum sounds like a real gem. I wish her all the best.

(Morphine lollipops sound, erm... interesting!!)
(Greencloud Wanted to go fishing on, Fri 23 Nov 2007, 13:54, closed)

PMSL
at Humptys length joke...
( ogwen69 has returned from Reddit, Sat 24 Nov 2007, 21:26, closed)

"morphine lollipops"
They're awesome.. she can be in utter agony one moment and as happy as a spring lamb (about as stable too) the next.

However.. she complains that "the clouds go funny colours and everything look swirly" ... much to the amusement of the rest of the family .. "mum, people pay SERIOUS money to get that effect"

Length Gag: I'm one of the few people who's grown to be taller than his mum TWICE. Just after I grew taller than her the first time she went on to get straightened out and gained 3 inches on me. ... I grew past her again, but these days she's slowly shinking. =(
(Edit: and Ogwen69 knows this... he's like a third son to her... yeah mate.. you are)

It sucks to be unable to hug yor mum for fear of causing her pain.

If only hash was legal =(
( Humpty Dumpty was Pushed Is unaware of having any limits., Sun 25 Nov 2007, 12:17, closed)

Your mum sounds like mine
Mine survived polio and had a few good decades of mobility before her body started to fail. She uses a chair now, though she can also walk short distances(like from the chair to the bath). She also has to deal with people in shops(and many other places) who think wheelchair = deaf/mentally impaired.
Mind you, she's usually first with the spazz jokes and really, who's going to tell off an older lady in a wheelchair?
'I can say whatever I like,' she boasts, 'because stupid people assume it's dementia or something.'
Long live feisty mums!
(louveciennes , Volvospotter, Mon 26 Nov 2007, 5:36, closed)

Your mum sounds like a brave woman
Hey Humpty, best of luck to you and your mum. My Dad's spine is crumbling so he too can only walk short distances and tries to walk as much as he can. He's a very proud bloke so he wont let on how much pain he's in a lot of the time.

We too get the looks when we park up in a disabled bay. I haven't quite worked out how to treat these people yet, I might have to steal your line. All the best x
( El Lazarus is calm now, Ish,, Tue 27 Nov 2007, 14:40, closed)