Ableism

Image - https://rehabpub.com

 Life has been hard and I haven't been blogging at all. I'm going to try and remedy that and try to write at least one post a week. Mostly so I can get in the habit of writing more and to keep my brain on its toes.

My post today is kind of all about my brain. My poor broken brain. I have a lot of health issues. My foot, that I sprained back in April, thinks that it is very hurt. Or my brain thinks my foot should hurt when there isn't really much physically wrong with it. I've been diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome in my foot and have to have a chair for work because I can't be on my feet for eight hours anymore.

I still suffer from my chronic migraines and I have short term memory issues thanks to the brain mass I had back in 2014. This comes up often at work. I work in the deli of a local grocery store. We have a hot bar that we serve breakfast food and then lunch/dinner options. We also have an asian food bar and a sub bar. These bars are were I work - it's my job to serve people and keep things stocked and clean.

We can be short handed sometimes, especially when people go on their lunch breaks. Sometimes I find myself alone to handle all three bars. Usually it's not a big deal and I can holler for help if I need to. This is the situation I found myself in last week.

A trio of young men came up to the sub bar and started to order. Just after a woman came up to the asian bar. I was trying to take the mens' order and holler for help. This caused my brain to do a little bit of a meltdown and I couldn't remember what meat and cheese they wanted for their subs. This happens a lot but these young men thought it would be fun to mock me for my memory issues.

I honestly don't remember exactly what they said but it was snide and ablest. I still did my job and got their subs made. After they left, the lady was still at the asian bar though someone had come up to help her. She was very, very upset though - she was upset for me, that they had treated me so bad.

At the time, I told her it was ok, that I didn't mind. But honestly, it's been in the back of my mind ever since then. Those young men didn't know who I was or that I am technically a disabled person. But they didn't need to mock me for my memory issues. Similar interactions where I forget what meat or cheese for a sub happens everyday, but most customers are gracious and just repeat what they want.

As my health gets worse, I get more annoyed with people being ablest. I honestly wish that people would treat everyone with dignity and respect, but that's not going to happen sadly. I'm sure the young men who mocked me haven't given it a second thought. 

Please be kind, you don't know what issues people might be dealing with. And I can make a great sub, I just might need some help remembering what you want on it.