More Awareness is Still Needed

Despite all of the current pro-mental wellness and anti-bullying campaigns, some people still don’t get it. My husband told me of an incident in our local Canadian Tire store on Landsdowne that happened on Tuesday night this past week.Copyright Deborah Carew

He was in a line-up with a checkout person who was on her first shift and still learning her new job. The line was building with the delays, but everyone seemed patient, as we’ve all been there before. That is, everyone was accepting of the process except for one Trent student (identified by his clothing) a few people back in the row. He announced to his buddy that “this retard will probably keep us here all night.”

I was surprised to hear this kind of attitude from someone around the same age as the new cashier… until my husband explained that this was not directed at the girl, but at him.

My husband has two chronic illnesses; one of them is Parkinson’s Disease. He experiences a strong tremor in his head and neck which people often interpret as him saying “no”, when that’s not the case. He was trying to communicate with the new cashier who was having problems understanding him, as well as with ringing his purchases through. My husband became angry when he heard this young man’s judgement of him. So much so, he felt the heat rise from his other chronic illness, Bipolar Disorder. Being well-managed and knowing it was best not to engage in an escalation of the matter, he left his items on the belt and said he just couldn’t do this right now.

To this, our stellar Trent student announced, “What an ass***e!” to everyone in line.

What this tiny-minded young man doesn’t realize is that my husband holds a double-major in math and physics—with Honours—from the University of Toronto. He graduated from that university at the age of 18. He is in a study by Yale and Harvard Universities because of the comorbidity of these two debilitating illnesses.

Being neither a “retard” nor an “ass***e”, he is a man in his early 50’s who struggles every day of his life with the many other symptoms that are part of these diseases. He is a man whose life will be cut short by one or both of them.

Our stellar Trent student would be wise to open his eyes to see the bigger picture of life going on around him, and shut his oversized mouth. He is only contributing to the hate, judgement, bullying, and outright stupidity going on in the world today.

By Deborah Carew

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