In "Dear Abby" today...
#197098 - 07/19/05 06:17 AM
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I rarely disagree with you, but after seeing the letter about a woman in a wheelchair cutting into line and "demanding access" to a handicapped restroom stall, I had to write.
Because of post-polio syndrome, I must use a wheelchair outside my home if walking even a moderate distance. To my knowledge, wheelchair users have the same bladder control as anyone else and require no special treatment. Unfortunately, some wheelchair users abuse their obvious physical problems and, at times, become tyrants. However, most of us want to be treated exactly like everyone else unless there's some kind of barrier such as a door that's difficult to open.
Otherwise, we do not want special treatment.
ABBY FAN, Jamestown, N.Y.
Dear Fan:
Other readers echoed your sentiments, and some pointed out that there are people with "hidden" disabilities such as irritable bowel syndrome or incontinence. They felt, as you do, that the woman in the wheelchair was out of line (forgive the pun) for being demanding. I feel, however, that the person standing in line should have offered to let the woman in the wheelchair go in first. If she couldn't wait, she should have asked the woman for permission to go ahead of her. Read on:
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Have a blessed day!...Rachel
stable and sooooooo thankful!
I have IBS but it doesn't have me!
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I'm glad you posted this. I get the evil eye from a lady who was waiting outside the stall I was using. I was having an attack in my car and pulled over to a Wendy's fast food restaurant to use their bathrooms. There were 2 stalls to the bathroom, and someone was in the 1st stall with her child, so I used the larger, handicapped equipped stall.
Someone with a walker started banging on the door as I was just starting what proved to be a terrible D attack, and although I kept gasping out "Occupied!" between my teeth between contractions, she wouldn't leave the door alone. By the time I got out, the stall next to me was still occupied and the walker lady just glared at me as I passed her by, appologizing to her!! (?!) She made no imediate move to use the stall though she'd been sweating me for 5 minutes.
I mean, come on. I've waited for a stall too when I was going in my pants. I know what it's like. I wanted to tell her to quit shoveling fast food down her gullet and maybe she'd be in better working order. But I have no right to do that any more than she has a right to get on my case about having a public case of D. Jeesh.
~nelly~
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Microscopic Colitis, IBS-A, GERD, Hiatal Hernia
Bethany, Ontario, Canada
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Oh god Nelly! I would have told her exactly what you were doing in there and she would probably have just left.
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I wouldn't have used the word "poo" either. 
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Carol
nós somos o que nós somos e o descanso é merda
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How the heck did you manage to be POLITE whilst having an attack? My manners go out the window (or should that be down the toilet?  )!
That was sooooo rude of her. Some people do just think they have extra rights because they are obviously disabled in some ways. The number of times I've wished for a disabled sticker for my car (and a wheelchair) when I've been grocery shopping with a Fibro flare. 
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