why do people look at me funny....

[irishtigger]

That is just awful that you were made to feel that way anywhere especially at Disney. What is it anybody else's business if they can see the reason or not see the reason you are using a card, a wheelchair, crutches, a stroller as a wheelchair or anything for that matter. What does it bother them for anyway. I just don't get it. I have been to Disney many times and I never think twice when I see someone gets to go ahead of me for whatever the reason may be. If you have a GAC card there is a reason for it but the reason is no ones business. I know its easier said than done and being yelled out or having comments made is not fun and hard to ignore I am sure. That is just another form of bullying and not right. I just hope that it doesnt ruin all the magic for you. Everyone deserves to have the pixie dust while in Disney World.

 

[DisneyNut4Life]

some people just don't have the common sense they were born with!

I hate having to be in a scooter while I am there, but honestly it is the ONLY way I can do it. I decided I had to let those comments either roll off my back and roll with them..or stand up for myself....I chose to stand up for myself in most situations, but there are some that no matter what you do it won't change how they see things so why bother....

If it was me..I would have pulled off my leg and waved it and asked them if now I am handicapped enough for them.....But then I have a different sort of personality.

 

[knorris93]

Sorry that someone was rude to you! There is always one bad apple in the bunch.

Our DD is in a chair and has limited mobility. we experienced one stupid person in May 2009 outside the Toy story ride. Yelling at us for "jumping the line", I was almost in tears. Really! Do you they not think before they open their big mouths. BUT what they see is the moment, not all the struggles that we have endured with our Princess. I would give anything for my kid to be "normal" and not struggle. The CM at the enterance was great and moved us in quickly to avoid anymore heartache from one jerks attitude.

 

[JarrothsMom]

WOW! My son has 2 prosthetic legs...and times like that I wanna pull his leg off and see their faces...lol. My son is Blind and Autistic too but due to the multiple disabilities it has never been a problem for us. Ours is people just being rude all together. I know ppls disabilities are not always spotted by the naked eye. However it is sad that not everyone knows this. SO I always feel if we have the chance to teach others that...we should do so. Once the jaw closes from calling them out and making them feel very small for making the foolish comments...they usually will say sorry and NEVER do it again to others

 

[mickey&minniealways]

DH and I have tough skin most of the time. I am more likely to get upset if I am short sleep of someone makes my kids cry.

I am still upset with a saleslady at a local store from earlier today. After we bought DDs(8 & 8)t-shirts, she told another sales person "kids like should be in a facility somewhere where normal people will not have to see them". I rushed the girls out of there to stop myself from stepping down to her level.I knew the girls wanted the shirts and do not know of another place that sells them.(If I did we would have returned them and bought elsewhere)

After we met up with rest of family I went back to talk with the store manager.He knew I would be back after talking with the sales person who had been told "kids...".He was also upset, he has a SN kid as well.

Saleslady was still rude when store manager and I talked with her.

I am just glad the girls are still at the age when a few Disney stickers makes them so happy that hurt feelings go away.

DH had a co-worker one time who felt that we should not have had kids. We had 1 at the time and he also is epeleptic. I have elpilepsy. He also told us that if we insist on haveing more that we should get genetic testing and if ANYTHING shows up we should abort the fetus. We had invited them to dinner. I immediatly asked them to leave and they were not welcome in my home anymore. Told him that if he and DH needed to work together then fine. But that I would not tolerate it in my home. He also felt that we should put DS in a home.

 

[brat]

mickey&minnie
My Foster Son just told someone yesterday when they said our kids should be in a "home" that they are "hers" pointing to me.Bless his autistic heart he thought the comment was about getting a Foster or adoptive home.So from now on I will just use his answer.

 

[bouncycat]

I don't get the whole home thing. Yea, granted some people aren't qualified to take care of special needs kids, but as a mother, you find a way!!! My son certainly has issues, as do I, but he's VERY protective over me, and of course I am of him. I wish people would just keep their nose to themselves, and their own family before they start commenting on what other's should do. That always burns my hide when I hear that people should go in a home!! I didn't do that with DH's mother....I wouldn't do that with my parents either!!! If you think someone is faking, believe me, I've seen it all at WDW, start a conversation with them. I'm really open and honest about about my disability, shoot, I painted my leg braces bright orange with black tiger stripes, and they're signed by Tigger. Those usually grab attention, and people don't look at me funny, they think it's cool. Go figure! I just wanted to incorporate some of my personality into the braces, and I did. Trying to figure out what to do with my chair...that's another story!! LOL

 

[mickey&minniealways]

Yeah but when people tell you that you should not have kids or abort them because there might be something wrong with them I have real trouble ignoring that. One of the lines that bugs the **** out of me is when they see a pregnant women and ask if they want a boy or a girl and then say " well as long as its healthy it doesn't matter. " I just want to scream and shout What If it Isn't? I don't of course but this is what I want to do. Unfortunatly my MIL is the worst offender. I don't smoke and I didn't drink at all when I was pregnant but she still felt it must of been something I did or didn't do right.

 

[aggordon2]

I'm sorry this happened to you. We had a similiar experience at the peter pan ride. My DS has Autism and looks"perfectly normal"...a mother who saw us bypassing a HUGE line yelled that we were abusing the system. My son, ofcourse, was oblivious of the outburst..but my other children were upset. I ignored her, but was upset after for a long time. I almost felt like apologizing for my son's autism. We leave in less than a week for WDW and I WILL NEVER feel guilty or upset for anothers' blatent ignorance. I have enough to worry about.

We have been using the GAC the last two times we went to WDW. Our ds is also autistic and if anybody had made any comments, I don't think we heard them. Just focusing on our son and the pure joy on his face helped us tune out the rest of the world.

 

[saffronica]

My Foster kid has a t-shirt that says "I'm Autistic whats your disability? I ask because if keeps me from thinking your just a _____." He loves that it just has the blank so it sinks to the readers level. I have not decided it we will pack that shirt for WDW trip or not.

Do you think it would be acceptable for a six-year-old to wear that shirt? LOL. We're going in September and we're going to use a GAC card. I think if ANYONE said anything to us (because my son doesn't appear outwardly "dis"abled unless he winds up surrounded by people) I think my Mama Bear claws will come out!

 

[brat]

As long as you are comfortable with what you have on the T-shirt, it is. I find the T-shirts easier for us. Look at different Autism T-shirts to see which ones you like the best.

 

[raven70]

Do you think it would be acceptable for a six-year-old to wear that shirt? LOL. We're going in September and we're going to use a GAC card. I think if ANYONE said anything to us (because my son doesn't appear outwardly "dis"abled unless he winds up surrounded by people) I think my Mama Bear claws will come out!

We are planning to use a GAC this year for a high functioning ASD 9yo DS. I am a little nervous, but I saw something here or on another forum that I loved when a parent was given a hard time (I'm paraphrasing).

"I'll trade my son's autism for waiting in line all day if you like"

But, I thought about the OP's issue, and would have been outstanding if OP had rolled up pant leg and told the guy he would trade him his leg for his prosthetic and the other guy can have his place in line then.

 

[DisneyBride1207]

they don't know you or your situation - people always judge! Just ignore them! I have a hidden disability, I'm only 25 and I DEFINITELY got funny looks but I just remember -- they don't know me and my issue, AND I DON"T CARE WHAT THEY THINK!

 

[starnightstarsky2000]

I have a happy story to share to offset all the rude people stories....
So our first time with our GAC cards we were at WDW for 11 days and during our day 7 our DS9 really wanted to ride on Kali Rapids but the line was packed I mean NO personal space ANYWHERE and as you know a Aspie kid HAS to have LOTS of PS so we used the GAC card. As we started down the path my son suddenly started laughing and said "Mom Look" and pointed to a women in a wheelchair in front us who had the back of her chair covered with a mirror material and the words "Since you are Staring Anyway here is someone strange for you to stare at" when we got to the end of the line behind her my son went up to her and said "I Love your wheelchair saying that is soo cool" and the women smiled and signed back "Thank you" which made my son smile.

Later on that night our DS looked at me and said "Mom its hard sometime to be different but that lady is just fine and so am I" So remember the words of a 9 yr old blessed with Asperger's Syndrome whenever any of those rude people make a comment about you and yours that we are all different and we are all just fine Hugs to Everyone

 

[vwlizard]

Mish

I am thinking of making a deck of cards that explain each of our families disablities. When a comment gets under someones skin the card can teach instead of me.I already have printed some thank you cards to give those whe help us enjoy the Magic.

When I worked with kids with autism, I had cards explaining what autism was and websites to get more information. Since many of the children I worked with had extreme behaviors, I used them so that people understood that we were in a teaching situation.