We live in times whereby we assume that discrimination never happens because of disability, but of course that's just not the case. Its easy to think that because it doesn't happen to you, it doesn't happen to anyone.
My husband runs groups within the NHS for people with various long term conditions. He was telling me this week bout one of his clients who has CP, cerebral palsy. She had been relating an incident that happened only last year and just makes me want to raise my eyes to the heavens and either laugh manically or cry hysterically. She was at a local swimming baths with her mother and despite having CP is a good swimmer. She was doing lengths of the baths quite efficiently when her mother was told (not her obviously as no one wants to speak to a disabled person do they?) that she would have to get out as she was a hazard in the water and was distracting other swimmers. Like I said she's a pretty decent swimmer. Anyway after some negotiation she was allowed to stay in the pool as long as she only did widths! I'm sure the pool would argue health and safety as its a very good way of getting out of doing anything so it seems to me, but they weren't asking other swimmers to do widths were they regardless of their ability?
The sad part for me seems to be that she sort of accepted it with a shrug as I guess she has had to put up with this for all her 30 years or so. But I do think we can have all the disability equality schemes we want, its going to take a long time for perceptions to really change within society.
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