I tried a cycling group last week with a temporary support worker I have and except for one other young man (I'm 32) everyone else there was a pensioner. After the ride in a cafe all the pensioners were eating slices of cake, biscuits and drinking cups of tea.
I'm gluten and dairy intolerant so there was nothing I could have in the cafe and my support worker kept asking me (about 10 times at least) if I was going to eat or drink something, enough to make it embarrassing and unpleasant.
Several of the pensioners commented on the fact I wasn't eating or drinking anything too but I knew the likelihood was if I told any of them about my immune system having problems that would be straying too far from the small talk and levity of the general conversation going on.
I've found with many British social events a tray of biscuits is put out and cups of tea offered. It makes me feel more like an outsider. I've also found if you ask for a herbal tea people form judgements about you (at least here in the North West of England) deciding that you're pretentious and unworthy of their down-to-earth charm.
Has anyone else discovered eating and drinking habits to be an unexpected barrier to social inclusion?
