I’ve had people walk in behind me at grocery stores after I park in handicapped parking so they can look to see if I’m REALLY actually handicapped. It’s a very intrusive thing people do, maybe it’s just their natural reaction to seeing someone get out of a handicapped car who doesn’t appear to be handicapped. The thing is, my illnesses are not visible. You cannot see that I have multiple debilitating illnesses and it may have taken every bit of my strength to just get dressed and drive to the store.
The reason I have a handicapped parking pass is because a lot of the time, I get to a store and there is no parking anywhere near the door. So, I have to park and then walk and by the time I get to the front of the store, I am so exhausted and my legs have so much blood pooling that I have to sit down before even getting inside the store. I see the people looking at me having a hard time breathing. It’s embarrassing at times. Other times, I could care less what people are thinking of me.
Sometimes, I ride the little carts they provider at the store and sometimes I just walk slowly and take lots of breaks when I need them. People will impatiently get behind me and walk super close- sometimes even stepping on the back of my shoes…I have no idea why these people don’t just go around me and save us all the stress.
It’s much easier to get around a store with the motorized buggy they provide at the stores but those often get the most unwarranted looks than anything else about going to the store. People will sometimes go way over to the other side of the aisle and purposefully make a scene about going around me.
Now that I have a regular store that I go to, they have gotten used to me there and they don’t know exactly what illness I have, but they know that I need a cart if I am shopping there, most likely. When I get to the self-checkout, there are two ladies that are so helpful and they help me if I need it. It’s nice to have someone who works there to help me if I need it.
I’ve gotten to the point now where I do the order-ahead and order my groceries on the app, then go get them a few hours later. It’s much easier and it is a step forward in the way of assisting those with disabilities, or if someone is just simply sick and not wanting to get out of the car. It’s also a plus because there is a drive-thru pharmacy there too. Even though they are extremely disorganized and somewhat rude at times.
This is just a snippet of the things we, as disabled people, have to deal with on a daily basis, just doing the simplest of things- grocery shopping.