It's NEVER OK!

Hi all!

I know it's been a while since I've written but I read something this morning that just really ticked me off and I had to write about it. One of my friends either shared or liked a post that led to a blog post about a child with Down's syndrome. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I have a brother who is severely mentally disabled. I grew up around other disabled kids due to various programs my brother was involved in. I remember going to a group he attended at a local catholic church. I really enjoyed interacting with those kids and I believe that doing so at a young age helped make me a more compassionate and understanding person where people with disabilities are concerned.

This particular blog post was about a horrid, ignorant comment made to a mother with a Down's syndrome 2 year old by a grocery store cashier. The comment is as follows...

“I bet you wish you had known before he came out. You know they have a test for that now…”

WTF!? When is it OK, ever, to say something like that to someone? I mean, really? It's NEVER OK! EVER!!!!

The mother handled it far better than I would have. I would have been livid to the point of tears had it been my child. I would have asked to see the manager after telling the employee what a brainless buffoon they were and would have made sure to let the manager know how ignorant and offensive she was to a customer with a special needs child. Here is a link to the original blogger. Take time to stop by her page and tell her how awesome she is.

http://chroniclesofmommy.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/sometimes-i-forget/

I follow many blogs and Facebook pages in the Autism community and hear about all kinds of ignorance that special needs families have to face daily. One woman, who has a son with autism and some other co-morbid disorders has a service dog for her son to help with his meltdowns from sensory overload and also to alert them if he chokes because he has a swallowing disorder. The ignorance and stupidity she deals with when out in public with her son and service dog is astounding. Since when did people lose all respect for others personal space, privacy and lives? When we did stop treating each other like human beings?

Since learning about the functions of service dogs I am very vigilant with my kids when we see someone out and about with one. If they ask to pet the dog I tell them no, the dog is working. You can only pet a service dog if the owner offers first. It's important to let a service dog focus on it's job, for it is a very important one. Once we saw one in the library and the lady overheard me telling the kids this, but she turned out to be a hospital worker who takes this trained service dog to visit patients in hospitals. So she happily let the kids and myself pet the animal. But I made sure to let the kids know that this was not the usual way to be around a service animal, because at that time, the animal wasn't working.

It makes me sad when I see people out who have visible disabilities such as Down's or someone with more severe autism and I smile at them and try to engage but the parent or caregiver doesn't give me the chance to and sort of steers them away from me. It makes me sad because it's the ignorance they face on a day to day basis that causes them to do this to protect their child. So then that child doesn't get to interact with and be treated with respect by those of us who really are only interested in putting a smile on a child's face, ANY child.

I'm just so fed up of ignorance. Of people whose stupidity is so great that garbage falls out every time they open their mouths. When I was little we were taught to be respectful of others. My husband and I teach our children the same. But this whole society seems to be going down the toilet. People just don't care about each other anymore. An ever shrinking minority do, but too many people are the vocal, rude and judgmental sort. And I'm just tired of them.

In the famous words of Rodney King (albeit a condensed catchphrase from his original quote)

"Can't we all just get along?"

Sigh...thanks for reading.

Dawn