tbh age plays a huge part in ableism
I was in one of Target’s automatic carts today because my leg’s in a brace and I’m supposed to do as little walking as possible
And you wouldn’t fucking believe the amount of dirty looks I was given as I rode around
yeah i use a scooter when theres going to be a lot of standing or walking and the dirty looks are never ending, i even get shit from older disabled people which feels horrible…
Here in Tucson I hardly get weird looks in my wheelchair at all, and I see other young people in wheelchairs all the time (although I’m the only one I’ve seen who doesn’t have a manual wheelchair so apparently that’s less common) but home in Annapolis is AWFUL. You go around the mall feeling like you’re on display because every single adult glares at you and no one tells kids who point that it’s rude. The National Aquarium is really bad too… I don’t know why people think it’s okay to ask a complete stranger minding their own business why they’re in a wheelchair because “oh you’re just so young, I thought you’d’ have an interesting story!”
I think it matters if it’s a scooter or a manual chair.
Like my chair is clearly mine because it’s a lightweight one, it doesn’t look like a hospital chair or a borrowed scooter, so people probably assume I’m paralyzed since that isn’t related to age.
Almost ever horror story I hear is related to the carts in the stores because if you are bringing your own chair people are less likely to think you are faking. I have never used a store cart for this reason because I’ve never been brave enough because I KNOW I don’t look disabled without it and people just assume if you are young you are playing with the carts for fun
dang I wanna thank everyone for sharing their stories and comments because it makes me feel like I’m not alone but wow these are so sad I hate abled people sometimes fuck
I’m just gonna add my story in this because I experience similar stuff with my crutches. I have elbow crutches that I use because my knee muscles are all messed up and it’s really painful to walk without them and if I don’t use them then my knees sprain really easily.
And with everyone it’s always “oh you don’t really need them because a doctor didn’t give them to you” or “oh so how long until your off of them?” “when will you get better?” “what did you do?” and I get so many invasive questions.
I work in retail so I see a lot of people and it happens a lot plus my family is pretty shitty about it too I went to one physio appointment told my mom I was feeling really good and she was like “oh so your off your crutches now?”
Also as a kinda funny (not really but sorta) story the only time I’ve been catcalled was when some construction worker dude that was at the bus stop yelled after me “HEY WHATS WRONG WITH YOU DO YOU HAVE MS?” and then ran up to me and told me about how I had to get spikes for my crutches to walk in the snow or some shit.
This ended up being more venty then I meant it to but with I noticed I always get two ends of the spectrum it’s either people want to do everything for me and think I’m incapable of like breathing on my own or I’m yelled at for “not having a legitimate reason to have crutches”
gamerfreakathon 