Blind Sided

Last night I went to the movies.  I was meeting my sister and her son.  I waited in my car for over 20 minutes for the line to get shorter because I am disabled and cannot stand for longer than a minute or two.  When I approached the ticket line, to my left there were about eight people milling around the ticket window, and to my right was a woman standing on the curb looking at the ticket window, but she didn’t move up in the line.  So I asked her if she was waiting in line.  She replied, “Yes” and continued to stand on the curb.  I suggested she move up in line before others moved in front of us; she didn’t move.  I could tell she was “annoyed” at me but before she could comment another line opened up and she moved into that line, and I moved to the next available ticket window.  I purchased my ticket and went to the lobby to sit on the bench while I waited for my sister and nephew.

“Well, was it worth it…rushing to get your ticket so you could sit on a bench?”  I looked up to find myself being confronted by the woman in the ticket line. 

“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” she continued, “that you would rush to buy your ticket so you could sit on the bench.”  Again she looked at me as if she was expecting an answer.

“I am disabled” I replied, “and I cannot stand for any length of time.”

This person looked me up and down and sneered at me while she was asking, “What are you disabled from?”  Maybe if you got off the bench more often you wouldn’t be disabled.”  She, of course, felt it was her place to verbally abuse me for being overweight. Again she made the comment, “it just doesn’t make any sense to me” as she is walked toward the movie theater.

The remarkable thing about this encounter, other than she had no right to confront me in the first place, was she was also fat.  

The second remarkable thing was she was not interested in me or what I had to say…she was a person who believed she was above me in every regard and that she had every right to let me know what she thought of me!  However, she did not stay around to hear what I had to say.  So…being the human that I am, I yelled, “What is your problem?” several times to her back as she walked away from me. Then, I must confess, I also yelled, “Get a life.”

What upsets me the most is that I am a Christian, and I truly try to be a nice person. I had to ask for forgiveness for reacting in such a childish manner. I also had to dig deep inside myself and find a way to forgive this woman for attacking me.

One of the many promises God gives us is He will turn bad into good for those who love Him, and true to his Word, He did! 

I want to thank this woman for her insensitivity…because it inspired me to set up this blog and make it my mission to EDUCATE people on the devastation invisible disabilities can have on a person.  Not only do we face unbelievable suffering physically, financially, emotionally, socially and with family, we have to endure unrelenting humiliation from strangers, physicians, disability agencies, government programs and a life-time of sorrow.

Half A Life: Living With Invisible Disabilities is a book I have written.  I would like to enter into the book any and all comments I receive from you regarding your invisible disability.  What is your disability?  How do you deal with it?  How does it affect your life?  Your comments will be anonymous unless you tell me to use your name.