“I can’t wait to get rid of these bloody things” – a comment made about masks, but one I can’t help but feel was subconsciously aimed at disabled folk and the vulnerable, too.
My Dad had pushed my wheelchair beyond the borders of the hospital to my favourite independent coffee shop in Guildford before I went home to rest, post-op (I can’t say he was pleased at pushing a power chair but I wasn’t allowed to drive it myself due to my anesthetic), and we passed a street cleaner, not wearing a mask anyway, saying, “I can’t wait to get rid of these bloody things [on Thursday]”. This refers to Britain’s (rather reckless, if I were to say kindly) dropping of many covid safety measures this week, such as mask-wearing, social distancing etc. My Dad’s response to his comment was “Well, I can’t stop wearing a mask because of my daughter” and gestured to me, looking slightly tragic since I’d only just left the hospital and the OR too and his reply was “but you can on Thursday!”; he wasn’t quite getting the point. He wasn’t understanding that I needed to wear my mask, distance still, take all these precautions and more, that my Dad and Grandparents who are my permanent carers have to do the same because they need to consider their clinically vulnerable grand/daughter. Both my Dad and the cleaner repeated themselves in conversation once over before my Dad gave up trying to put forward his point because the man just really wasn’t understanding the message.
It’s scary. It’s scary how disconnected our lives are from able-bodied, non-vulnerable folk we are. I take a step back from outside of myself, back from my life and I look at this disconnect and it hurts. There are people out there living their lives without a care in the world and I am yet again terrified for my life. I’m happy for those who are able to have a life, but please, have no ignorance, or even worse, no care; many have said ‘if we have to lose a few vulnerable people just to get on with life then so be it’ and that… it sickening. How can you think that it is okay for disabled people to die just so you can go clubbing? I would say it boils my blood but as a disabled person, not only does it make my heart, but it makes me feel so incredibly sad and undervalued as a human being. And we deserve better. Disabled people are not disposable.
DISABLED NOT DISPOSABLE.
Stay safe, stay strong and look after yourself,
Love always, Lauren x
@holaurgraphic 
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