• Replies 7 replies
  • Subscribers 79 subscribers
  • Views 8822 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Being asked to take off my hat.

MidEssexGuy

Like many people on the spectrum, I am seriously senstive to light, mostly artifical light. I wear a cap to block out bright lights when I'm out and about, often with sunglasses as and when I feel I need them. It'll only take a few minutes of bright lights for my brain to start struggling and it can take hours to recover.

Dispite all my sensory and social challenges, I do have a very good social life but sometimes I have to cut my nights short. I'm not allowed to wear a cap in most bar's in town, no matter how much I explain. I see my friends for the warm up drinks, then I have to go home when they go else where.

I've also had this issue in local shops before (they don't allow hats for security issues). I just tell them I need it because I'm autistic and if they don't like that I refuse to buy anything there.

It's not a day to day issue but it's horrible feeling left out, for something I can't help.

Anyone know the legal position on this?

(ps. I really wish this forum had a spell checker )

Parents

  • I had an issue at a railway station. It's bad enough getting a train, but I can usually manage on off-peak, uncrowded ones for short journeys, and I usually keep a grip on my anxieties. Of course, with all of that weight pushing on me, it doesn't take anything at all really, to tip me over the edge...

    So, it went like this. I needed to get a taxi, and at this station there is a line for taxis and they let two or three taxis onto the rank at a time. At a time like this, I need very much NOT to be standing in a queue of people. Usually, the line of people disappears, whereupon I can go forwards and get the next cab before the next train in unloads and starts the process again... I waited about 15 minutes for my turn, but standing away from the queue, of course.  On this occasion, a nasty little railway employee accused me of trying to 'jump' the (non-existant) queue. This irrational behaviour rendered me speechless. I walke away from the station and flagged a returning Hackney, because they MUST stop when hailed.

    You can't see the wheelchair. We give no visible clues, we look just like anyone else, and that's where the problems lie. On another post, the poster explained that he'd had trouble with bouncers and Police officers because they failed/refused to recognise his NAS card. Clearly, then, what we need is a symbol such as the card, but it needs to be made clear, on a national level, that this is our 'wheelchair'. A lapel badge or some other wearable item might be nice. but above all, whatever it is MUST be made understood.

    I wonder how we might achieve that?

Reply

  • I had an issue at a railway station. It's bad enough getting a train, but I can usually manage on off-peak, uncrowded ones for short journeys, and I usually keep a grip on my anxieties. Of course, with all of that weight pushing on me, it doesn't take anything at all really, to tip me over the edge...

    So, it went like this. I needed to get a taxi, and at this station there is a line for taxis and they let two or three taxis onto the rank at a time. At a time like this, I need very much NOT to be standing in a queue of people. Usually, the line of people disappears, whereupon I can go forwards and get the next cab before the next train in unloads and starts the process again... I waited about 15 minutes for my turn, but standing away from the queue, of course.  On this occasion, a nasty little railway employee accused me of trying to 'jump' the (non-existant) queue. This irrational behaviour rendered me speechless. I walke away from the station and flagged a returning Hackney, because they MUST stop when hailed.

    You can't see the wheelchair. We give no visible clues, we look just like anyone else, and that's where the problems lie. On another post, the poster explained that he'd had trouble with bouncers and Police officers because they failed/refused to recognise his NAS card. Clearly, then, what we need is a symbol such as the card, but it needs to be made clear, on a national level, that this is our 'wheelchair'. A lapel badge or some other wearable item might be nice. but above all, whatever it is MUST be made understood.

    I wonder how we might achieve that?

Children
No Data