Anybody who is even slightly different than the average population knows that feeling of looking into the camera like you're on The Office feeling of frustration when you're talking to a normal person.
People who have a difference of ability must accumulate these frustrating experiences faster than any other. We take things like our hearing, our sight, our mobility, for granted so intensely that we probably can't help but piss them off.
u/Griffin1102 asked:
Disabled people of Reddit, what is your most "bruh" moment with an abled person?
Here were some of those answers.
Do You Know Which Sense I'm Referring To?
Giphy
So many. i'm Deaf.
Most common are me finding the email contacts on websites and writing, asking for information and proactively stating that i'm Deaf and can't use the phone. [Yes, there's relay but people hang up and it takes way long and not all operators are equal and.....it's just not good]
i'd say at least 50% of the time i get back a non-form letter, so i know they read my comment word for word....but still want me to call them.
Nope, still Deaf : 0
That and the braille menu being offered at restaurants. [ many Deaf, like myself, will hold eye contact *hard* - because we're speech-reading. how you could offer braille to someone who's staring you down just ....gobsmacks me. ]
Please Think, Teach
One of my best friends was born with only one arm, and freshman year of high school in computer class he got yelled at for not having both hands on the keyboard.
When You're All But Speechless
Was born with Achilles tendons that don't stretch properly and are very prone to injury due to thinning and weakness. After one really bad tear caused by a fall down the stairs, I was using a wheelchair and while waiting in line at the store, I had a man old enough to be my grandfather PICK UP the back of my chair so he could cut me in line. I was so shocked I didn't say anything, just stared in horror.
Ha....Ha?
One of my arms is unusable and notably under-developed, so I do everything with one hand. Once during a meeting with my supervisor, he said something to the effect of, "It's a tough task the first time you do it, but in a few months you'll be able to do it with one hand behind your back." And I was like, "Well I guess that depends which hand..."
The look on his face was great. I actually love making jokes like that with people because you can tell they don't know how to respond.
You're Gettin' Kinda Brave There
I am both visually impaired and have Cerebral Palsy. I asked a woman for directions to the bathroom on my first visit to a store. She led me to the bathroom, cool. Then she followed me into the bathroom. I was thinking that maybe she had to go to. Then she tried to follow me into the stall. At that point, I had to explain that 'no, ma'am, I do not need help using the bathroom.'
I Think We're Alone Now...Thankfully
Can I tell on myself? I volunteer as a guide for disabled athletes. One athlete I was working out with is blind. She had her dog, and was holding my arm. It's a night, so I had a headlamp.
Anyway, when it's about time to turn around, she wants to let her dog off the harness so he can pee. She squats down to undo the buckles and I...shine my headlamp on the harness, thinking I'm being helpful.
Once I realized what I was doing, I quickly stood up and looked around to see if anyone had seen me being dumb.
Justice AND The Stars
There was a blind kid studying to be a lawyer at my college and I compared him to daredevil. His hearing was exceptional and he was a great student. I think he told someone who asked why he wanted to be a lawyer, "Well justice is blind."
Can Still See, Bruh
I'm deaf. One day in Astronomy 100 I was sitting up front (part of an accommodation for me) with an interpreter. After class a girl came up to me and straight up asked me if I could read. Think about this for a second. I'm taking classes at a university. I know she meant well, but still. I told her I could. She handed me a note; on the note she said that she could take notes for me if I needed it. It was a nice gesture, but a really dumb question.
The Prefix Doesn't Mean It's The Same Thing
I manage a Welfare unit at a good number of festivals and I usually work beside the same medic company. I was chatting to a new trainee paramedic while we were having a cigarette. I happened to mention that I am epileptic and she then asked me if I have an epi-pen.
It took her a long time to work out why I was looking at her as if she was the dumbest b*tch alive. Didn't go down too well with the head medic either.
Update Shmupdate
Giphy
Local nightclub had new owners so they did some "updates" on the building as well as the name change. I went there because I knew it was accessible.
Turns out one of the changes they made was to change how to get to the bathrooms, there was a wall where the slope was and the ONLY way was the three stairs. By the time I realized that I needed to use it and was unhappy. Talked to the manager and said that it's not cool. I know there's nothing he can do about it, I just wanted to point out how stupid that change was and that they no longer had me (or my group of friends) as customers.
He apologized and offered me free drinks for the night. I had to slowly explain why I could not accept his offer and watch his face as he realized how ignorant he proved himself to be.
That Ain't It, Kid
My mom is in a wheelchair and we live in New England, a part of the country where buildings were built long before OSHA or when disabled folks were even considered peoples.
So places like restaurants have to be called to ensure they're handicapped accessible, so cue this convo:
Me: "Hi! I'm just curious if you guys are wheelchair accessible?"
Woman: "Well... we got a few steps but they're not that steep."
Short Term V. Long Term
I have Spina Bifida
I work in a kitchen and on this particular shift I was with the two guys I work with. One of them had a bike ran over his leg and could barely walk and we were tasked with cleaning the splash back for our cooktops. Somebody had to do it.. with little to no input it's on me. Explaining to them both if I so much as slip the wrong way I would be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life (this is at a height of 2+metres) they paused and the injured one said 'well what about my leg?!' Bruh....
I Have No Motivation To Do This
Giphy
"Why can't you go on a boat? No way you'd fall off. You can just wear a life jacket."
After I just said I have a trach, meaning water can get into my lungs and have me drown internally; I don't have the balance or body strength to hold myself above the water, due to a muscular dystrophy disease, or the ability to swim - even with a life jacket, you still bob up and down in the water, therefore get water in your body. Lol. Ignorance is so real.
This Ain't Jaws, Bruh
I work with disabled people.
At my last workplace we went swimming (All adult people, group of 6 plus me and two coworkers) and I notice a strange look from some old dudes in the pool. They walked out of the pool and one of them said: "Let's get out, they may attack us"
Like the dangerous disabled people who wanted to play in the water with a ball... very dangerous.
My coworker said that things like happen quite often.
What Don't You Get About "Disorder"
Right after I finished explaining my long history (14 of my 21 years at that stage) of disordered sleep and having seen sleep doctors and tried all the usual stuff to a doctor that I was seeing for fibromyalgia management, she paused and said, "well, your fibromyalgia would be a lot more manageable if you just slept more."
...bruh.
It Can't Just Grow Back, Linda
Probably when I went to the DMV to have my disability placard renewed. For reference, I have a prosthetic leg. I went up to the lady at the counter at the DMV and said that my placard was expiring and I needed a new one. She said that in order to get a new placard, I had to go to the doctors and get a note that said my leg was still missing. I was like, "I can pull off the leg right now for you to show you it's still missing..." And she looked more than a little flustered, but said that it was a state requirement. So I had to go to the doctors, ask him to write me a note saying that my leg was still missing so that I could get my new handicap placard. Bruh...
The old wives' tales.
They are the stories of legend.
I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.
Where did they originate?
WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!
You don't hear about them as much anymore.
It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.
But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.
Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:
"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"
"Wait an hour to swim after eating."
What a crock!
So many summer hours wasted.
I want revenge for that one.
Say Nothing
Giphy
"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."
LonelyMail5115
"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."
I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA
Say Something
"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."
Severe_Airport1426
"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."
crappycurtains
"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."
AlbinoShavedGorilla
Body Temps
"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."
chriseo22
"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."
"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."
apocalypticradish
Arms Down
"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."
Fatmouse84
10 Years Actually
Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Giphy
"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."
"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."
Gecko-911
I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.
This tale is haunting.
High/Low
Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace
Giphy
"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."
LeastFormal9366
"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."
IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI
The Cursed
"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."
"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."
SmoreOfBabylon
Stay In
"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."
"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."
worldbound0514
Dreams and Facts
"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."
"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."
mattshonestreddit
"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."
Darthdemented
Cracked
Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office
Giphy
"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."
Choice-Grapefruit-44
"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."
MacyTmcterry
I love my knuckles.
Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
