Re: Getting paranoid again!

January 16, 2004

Oh, ,

I howled at that paragraph or disclaimer or whatever last night! I cannot

imagine being offended by it!

Carole

January 16, 2004

,

How about someone who rams you on purpose. About 5 years after my

operation I was at Safeway waiting by the meat counter for a guy to

come out & help me. I noticed a heavy lady in one of those riding

baskets that grocery stores supply now, and she was about 5 yards

away coming towards me. I didn't think I would be in her way. I was

turned away from her and she ran into my shopping cart. The cart

handle hit me pretty hard right in the middle of my back, she still

didn't put on the breaks & hit me again. I screamed out " ow " , I was

so shocked & hurt. A worker came running & asked if I was ok. We

both looked at the lady who didn't say one word, not I'm sorry or

anything. I really do believe that she did it on purpose or why

wouldn't she have said something to me. I was in shock. Anyway when

I told my children, they were very upset & asked why didn't I yell

at her, my husband was also upset. I am sure they would have said

something to her like hey lady why did you do that, or something not

as nice. Anyway BEWARE Watch out for ladys driving those motor

carts. I do believe she did on purpose and maybe feeling very bitter

that day. I feel that she was mad & trying to get even, that she

was in a cart while I, who looked healthy had a very bad back. It's

not like I was in her way. Iam happy I didn't get hurt that day.

Sandy

> Dear Fellow Feisties,

>

> Email can get so emotional. Maybe it helps to put in

those " smiley "

> emoticons when you are joking. Not always, though. This week I

have

> witnessed some massive misunderstandings and major hurt feelings at

> another online forum (totally unrelated to this group, thank

heavens).

>

> Last night I posted to this group with a joking comment about

holding a

> protest meeting. It occurs to me that someone might conceivably

take

> umbrage at my crack about excluding obstreperous children in

shopping

> carts.

>

> I do not know what people with bad " flatback " deformities would do

> without shopping carts to lean on. Shopping carts are a great

> invention. And I am certainly not down on children, having been

one and

> had one myself.

>

> I was referring to an earlier post from someone who has been

rammed by a

> shopping cart while waiting in line at a store adjacent to a child

in

> the seat portion of the cart.

>

> To rephrase: " Kids and carts are fine. Just please do not let

your

> kids use a cart to assault someone. And if they are awake, you

might

> want to take a break from your perusal of the National Enquirer

now and

> then to see what they might be up to. "

>

> To quote Maynard G. Krebs, " No offense, Dobie. "

>

> Best,

>

> ---

> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.

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> Version: 6.0.558 / Virus Database: 350 -

January 17, 2004

I'm sorry you had such a terrible experience.

You may be watching the current Tennessee case being reviewed by the Supreme

Court, as so many of us are. (As you know, it is not unusual with people with

flatback and other scoliosis-related difficulties to need some kind of assistive

device ourselves. We know firsthand about inaccessibility of public buildings.)

Anyway, the man in this case who was effectively denied access to a public

building was someone with a temporary disability who needed to get to court. He

refused to obey a judge who ruled that he should allow himself to be carried up

the courtroom steps. The alternative was to crawl up the stairs, which he had

done once and did not feel he should have to do again. One aspect of either

option that made both impossible was that the people who would have carried him

-- all adults -- had jeered at him and made fun of him as he crawled up the

stairs. At least they did not injure him, though! Of course he feared that they

might -- that they might drop him if he allowed himself to be carried.

This is an extremely important case that has so very much riding on it. The

essential issue is whether people with disabilities have any right at all to the

use of public buildings, from government offices to schools. If the court

decides that the State of Tennessee had no obligation to provide an elevator in

the courthouse, this case will effectively render the ADA impotent, quaint, and

useless. We have already lost some ground in other cases centered on

enforcement of disability rights.

It is very hard to fathom how adults could act this way. It is especially

perplexing that someone who is disabled herself could treat another human like

that. You wonder if she was once one of those kids in the shopping carts whose

mothers did not seem to care when they rammed the cart into someone.

No doubt you read Jennie's account of the woman who hurt her in the restaurant

booth. I have not had anything like your experience but have been amazed at some

of the behavior grownups let themselves inflict on others. I guess I'll stop

there, or I would get to more painful reminiscing than I have time or pain-

(sitting-) tolerance for right now.

It's not always easy to remind myself that some people may have hidden

disabilities that I can not guess at. Clearly the woman who assaulted you had

no imagination and no clue. As you wrote, she must have had some private

bitterness she was taking out on a perfect stranger -- in an incredibly barbaric

way. If she makes a habit of this, she may find herself getting sued, if not

criminally prosecuted.

Re: " Getting paranoid " again!