This will sound weird when I start, but I promise if you read the whole thing it will make sense.
A while back (10, 12 years) I had major heart surgery. And so for a few weeks after I had problems doing some things, like walking for more than ten, fifteen minutes at a time, or sitting up right for more than five minutes.
But the doctors said I needed “exercise” (bastards) so my beloved and I would go out to the shops, and she’d made me walk (because she loved me) and we’d take a wheelchair with us.
Aside from the whole “walking” thing it was kind of fun, because imagine two people walking down the high street, pushing an empty wheelchair. One of them carrying a towel (and hugging it tightly) and the other walking slowly for no apparent reason. The number of strange and confused looks we got was really hilarious at times. Especially after I got tired and had to sit in the chair so she could push me for a while (which happened a lot, because of - you know - the surgery and the tired) and we saw someone who had seen us a few minutes earlier when I was up and walking about as if I was fine.
Needless to say I seldom, if ever, gave up my seat on the bus, train, bench or anywhere else if anyone asked. Even if the person asking was 101 years old. I did explain why, and no one argued with me, but sometimes I got some dirty looks for that as well. Because I looked young and fit with no physical injuries.
It wasn’t forever, and I never claimed to be disabled, and after eight or nine weeks I could bound about like a gazelle on heat. But those first few weeks? We got a lot of strange looks. And I know I said it was hilarious, but only because if I had decided to take offence then I would have whacked the wheelchair into so many people I probably would have been arrested :)
(The towel, if you were wondering, was for my chest. Having your chest cracked open and put back together hurts a lot, but then if you sneeze or cough oh my sweet fucking god it hurts so much more. Putting a towel against it mitigates it some but still – fucking ow!!)
My niece was stopped in the corridor at school by a teacher who shouted “are you deaf or something?”
My niece removed her hearing aids, slowly.
I have chronic fatigue syndrome, I used to be able to walk at a slow pace for short distances, but anything like the distances involved in grocery shopping was too much.
One day I went to pick up some tools from a big big box store. The walk from my car to the front of the store was a bit long, so I sat down on the provided electric scooter, the one specifically for disabled people to use. I proceed to get out my phone and mindlessly scroll the internet, giving myself a rest before shopping. After a few minutes an old woman walks through the front doors of the store and confronts me, quite annoyed: “Do you really need that?”
“Yes, actually,” I replied, “but you can have this one and I’ll wait for the next.”
Before I could even move to get up, she turned around and walked out of the store.
I still can’t decide if she was too embarrassed to take me up on the offer, or if she had only walked in there to confront me and left the instant it was obvious she was wrong.
Not all handicaps are visible. I know someone, quite young (mid-30s) and very healthy-looking. But she has a bad tension: if she stays standing for too long, it’s very uncomfortable and she may even faint. Older people feel entitled to take her seat and don’t understand when she refuse.
Shit, I’ve been this person since I was a teen. My BP drops like a rock in the heat, if I’m out in the summertime, I really can’t stand in place for more than a couple of minutes.
Generally it isn’t an issue because there’s enough seats to go around (and I don’t live somewhere with public transit), but I’ve had one or two less than pleasant conversations when on vacation.
I’ve never heard it called “bad tension” but I have POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) which fits your symptoms. I can’t maintain my blood pressure when I stand still (or if I get too hot, bend down, lift my arms over my head, eat a big meal…) my heart rate skyrockets to try to compensate and I ultimately faint.
I was diagnosed in 2012 and they’re still tweaking my medication to try and get it right. For most people it starts in their teenage years and they “outgrow” it within 5 years. For me it’s second to moderately severe Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, there’s no outgrowing it. I can’t go anywhere that requires more than a short walk from the car to a seat - queues are literally my enemy - so I use a wheelchair. The amount of dirty looks I get when I get out of my wheelchair to move to a more comfortable seat, or to go to the toilet etc are awful! Not only are a lot of disabilities invisible but not everyone who uses a wheelchair can’t walk at all. Grrrr!
This is a crazy story and all, but I can’t help but notice that there are like 5 usernames on-screen for a single post, and I have no idea which is supposed to be the OP.
It’s been forever since I saw this format, but I think the way it works is that mygayshoes submitted the story to aerodesy originally, and llamas-and-pancakes reblogged it from chicken-kiev.
And that was probably the weirdest sentence I’ll write all year.
I’ve long since given up on trying to understand tumblr. I just enjoy the funny not-tweets.
