Today at work I had a disabled woman come through my check out.
Her disability wasn't severe. She was in a wheelchair and didn't have much mobility in her hands and arms, just enough to move the stick around that controls her wheelchair. It came time to pay for her groceries and because of her disability she handed me her wallet and asked me if I could get out the blue BNZ card for her and trusted me with her pin number as she couldn't do it herself. The transaction went through and I put the card back in her wallet and handed it back, put her bag of groceries in her little basket and off she went.
A lady had been in line behind her for most of the transaction, hey, that's normal, people line up and stuff. Anyway. Once I started to scan and bag her groceries she leant over the check out and said to me "You know, people like her shouldn't be allowed out by themselves. Not being able to do things like us normal people slows everything down for the rest of us. They need carers with them when they go places."
Boy did I want to smack her in the face with the celery I was holding. As I am not allowed to yell, get mad at or smack customers in the face I said as politely as I could "She seems to be pretty happy with the independence she has now. If she felt she needed help, I'm sure she'd get some but she seems to be doing just fine without it."
She didn't seem impressed with me disagreeing with her, but she didn't say another word. She then proceeded to take her time finding her cards and got her pin wrong once, taking more time than the lady before her. Some people just need to be hit in the face with celery or something worse. What got me most about her statement was the way she said 'like us normal people' implying people with disabilities aren't normal. We're all people and we all deserve respect, unless you go hating on people with disabilities, then my respect for you is lost. I might carry celery with me now just in case.
