Not very politically correct aka I am not dumb
I am an intellectual snob. I just don't like dumb people. Call me heartless, cruel, insensitive...I don't care. I just like to surround myself with thinkers. I know I am smart and educated, and I prefer to be around people like that.
Yes, there are times when I have no patience for people...especially if someone has normal intelligence but no common sense. I try to be more patient with the mentally impaired, but I can only take that in small doses. I once had a friend in college who had been in a car wreck and it had messed with her cognitive abilities. She was a sweet girl, but it was hard for me to relate. I was using my own intellect to compensate for my own physical problems and then I would try to use my brain to compensate for hers and I couldn't do it. Then, there's this mentally challenged guy at my church; we'll call him D, who actually crashed one of my dates once and caused me a lot of grief. I rather not be around him. Being around people like that is taxing for me.
I especially hate being mistaken for a mentally challenged person. Yes, I am in a wheelchair. Yes, my limbs hate me and they don't always do what I tell them to do, but that doesn't mean my brain is gone. I hate it when someone talks down to me or tries to dumb down things for me. It upsets me that people see me this way. It annoys me.
So, I went to a job coach interview. Now, I screwed up and went to the wrong place where I set up the interview because I got confused Luckily, the woman at the wrong place I was at agreed to see me right then, which was awesome.
She asked me some things about my disability --I can't remember exactly, but she said something that implied that I had a mental challenge and I shook my head.
"I'm not dumb!" I said.
I know this isn't the most politically correct thing to say, but I am sick of letting people assume stuff, so I said it.
This woman freaked. She lectured me for ten minutes about how no one she works with is dumb.
So, she disliked my wording. I am not dumb, is just my way of telling people that I am not mentally challenged. I wasn't trying to offend her, but I apparently did, along with every mentally challenged person in the world.
Well, I got over it, but she never did.
I called her today to set up another appointment because we hadn't finished our chat and I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but alas, she was not willing to do the same for me.
She tried to turn the tables and make it seem like she didn't want to work with me because she felt bad for offending me. Yet, I was the one calling her! And she kept saying I used the I am not dumb line a few times, and started lecturing me again about it.
I only said it once. Believe me, I repented what I said right away and I never said it again...at least, not in front of someone who would misinterpret stuff I say.
She repeated the line a few times during our initial meeting, and kept bringing it up during our phone call. Why can she judge me on my actions? I try to treat everyone with respect and I tried to give her some respect by calling her and giving her a chance...
Instead, I got a lecture and a refusal of service.
The non-disabled people don't accept me and the disabled people don't accept me either.
wheelingwoman, why do tou refere to yourself as wheeling woman? it sounds like to me that you define yourself by your disablity. if that is how you see yourself them how can others see you differently? i have been talked donw to and looked over for jobs that i was very capable of doing. i just keep pushing foreward. because i can not let ignorence win. i had a woman that had half the education i have tell me i did not know my job and never would. i told her she did not know my job and she could not judge. my boss was right there and he backed me up. the best way you and i can stop the steriotyping is to work harder and prove them wrong. i have a daughter with some learning disabilities, i taught her that she is as good as anjone else. she graduated high school she has her own apt. living with her boyfriend and in nov. she will give birth to my first grandchild alittle girl her name will be Shyan Hilda and my daugther works every day in a second hand clothing store in our town and she has her driving license and her own car. because her dad and i never let her feel sorry for herself and we always told her she could do anything she put her mind to. my mother never treated as if i was a cripple. and i never treated my daughterlike she was anything but normal. whatever mormal is! i reakky wish you would write me i would love to hear from ypu. judy
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Judy, I'm sorry. I haven't had time to write you. I think if you read my first blog: http://www.wheelingwoman.com/?p=3 I, too, have a master's degree...went away to college...and led a charmed life...I did all that well, but now...I am more than this disabiliy, but I see nothing wrong with acknowledging my disability and the problems it creates.
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Sarah, I did not write comment number one and am not sure how my email address and name got attached to it. Judy Perez
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Oh Judy, I know it's not you. It's another woman named Judy, click on her name and you get her blog. How was the beach?
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The beach was just what we three needed. Shakespeare got us kicked out of a sidewalk cafe. Not his fault. They said he needed a jacket on or the health dept. would shut them down. Another resturant took us inside and we had a good meal. Love the art work at Cannon Beach. I got my feet in the sand at the ramp in Seaside. Met some very nice nurses on the walkway. Shakespeare draws people to us. We ate fudge and chocolate ice cream. Shakespeare had vanilla. We went to the Tillamook cheese factory and had a delicious cheeseburger and ice cream there too. Castulo drove back to Seaside yesterday to buy a pickup canopy he saw at the second hand store. It didn't fit his pickup so he used the money to buy a rooster at Rite-Aid. It looks so real that I caught Shakespeare sniffing it's rear.HA HA. Castulo is gone again today to the Messanic Temple. I didn't realize how dirty my house has gotten until being away and coming home again. I will try to clean some while I am alone today. I go so slow that I hate for Castulo to watch me struggle. I was outside with Sakeapeare a bit ago as he had to "go" so I groomed a flower bush and was all wore out so decided to check email and rest some. No wonder I can't keep up the house. It has really been hard since Castulo retired. See you Tuesday.
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I am going to help jim with his art group before going to art class. I am excited!
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