Really? People need to have courtesy?

[Sparky]

It's not a new phenomenon. Back in the '60s, my mother was shopping with my grandmother, who was permanently disabled and walked with crutches. Some kid ran into Grandma and nearly knocked her down. The kid's mother haughtily told Mom that "people like that shouldn't go out in public."

When I heard this I was . I still am, to this day.

[MamaMootz]

OP here. Well, it gets better. Turns out her ankle is fractured, not sprained. The ER that saw her three weeks ago called us this past Friday to let us know that actually they read the x-ray wrong at the ER and she has a fracture and needed to see an orthopedist today. She was starting to walk normally on the foot for about a week, so I'm not at all happy.

Saw the ortho today and now she is in a walking cast. At least she has no more crutches, but people are still making me .... as they are still just as rude.

[the lawsmeister]

In the aftermath of my broken leg I had to walk between two wings of the hospital (stupidly I'd sent my wife off to work telling her I'd be fine).
There was a guy on the street trying to get people to donate to a charity who watched me for the 20 minutes it took to make my way up the street on crutches and then stepped in front of me to try and get me to sign up to a payment plan. All I could manage was "dude seriously" before hobbling around him and in to the next entrance.
Faith in humanity was restored later that day I tripped and fell of the curb when trying to hail a cab to get home. I was lucky enough to have done it right on the shift change and was picked up by a couple of nurses and ER doctor and was rushed back inside to be given the all clear before they'd let me go home.

[Peppergirl]

I was on crutches until recently with a broken big toe. The first day, when I was going to pick up my pain meds for it, I was still learning how to navigate around on them. It had been YEARS since I'd been on crutches, and I forgot how to use them.

Anyway, I swallowed my pride and got a motorized cart. All I can say is never, ever, EVER again. I was appalled at how people behaved toward me when I was in that thing. It was clear that I was injured (I had the crutches propped next to me), but people cut me off, ran into me, gave me dirty looks, etc.

After that, I made my son do all my errands until I was steadier on my crutches. People only behaved marginally better then, but it was better than when I was in the cart.

is wrong with people?

[Sapphire Silk]

10? Have her yell "Get away from me you pervert!" They will back away nice & quick. (younger than around 10 people will figure they are just yelling a word they don't understand. But by around 10, they have a reasonable idea what a pervert is, at least nowadays they do.)

I definitely do NOT recommend this, for two reasons. 1) it will eventually create a problem from a SC who gets offended and makes a scene, and 2) reduces the effectiveness in real situations from people who get jaded from the false calls.

My solution is to be an asshat back. "Gangway! Make a hole! Gimp coming through!" worked quite well for me the last time I was on crutches, though I didn't actually have to do that too terribly often (then again, I avoid the Walmart like the plauge).

Carts don't help.

People just forget that you can't stop on a dime, and sidestep right in front of you.

QFT. I went through this recently with my sister at the discount store. It was a weekend, and I had to go ahead of her just to clear a path so she could get her cart through the crowd.

[TawnyMyst]

I spent 6 months combined on crutches, 4 with a straight leg cast and 2 more wearing a zimmer splint. I can't even count the number of times I was bumped into and sometimes knocked flat out on my ass. One lady knocked me down completely and then stood there yelling at me that it was all my fault for moving slowly and being in her way and that I shouldn't be allowed out if I couldn't keep up with normal society. I was 26 at the time, nobody needed to allow me to do anything, I lived on my own and still had to do everyday things, like get groceries. I was so shocked I just started bawling in the middle of the grocery store, plus it hurt a lot too and I couldn't get back up on my own. Karma won though, as she ended up getting escorted out by the manager, while one of the store employees helped me get the last of my groceries and even took them to the cab and loaded them up for me. The cab driver helped me unload when I got home too.

[Blue Ginger]

10 or 33 or 45 or 80+ makes no difference to some people.

When dad had a stress fracture in his leg, with a cast from halfway up the thigh to around the heel, he had people shoving and pushing him on his crutches.

Poor bugger had 3 months of putting up with annoying, hideous people. The people included a cow of approx 30 demand he give up his disabled seat on the train. Because a man on crutches has to give up his seat to a whiny cow wearing 4 inch stilettos. She finally shut up when he started knocking on the plaster and rolling up his pants leg.

He did learn an important lesson. Don't continue running when your shin splints (sp) are still painful after 2 months. Your leg is probably trying to tell you something. The tibia was only holding on by a few millimeters. His doc knew he would continue to push the leg to heal, hence the extra long cast.

[Pixilated]

Get a motorized cart for her the next time she is there. She can use one of her crutches as a lance and go jousting for pervs.

I love this! Ten extra points if she gets somebody who was rude to her or anybody else who's having mobility problems!

People have done that to my mum when she's shopping. If they try yelling at her, she cheerfully yells back, calling them morons for forgetting the laws of physics.

She once actually started hefting her walking stick & asking one particularly persistent twit if they really want to be arrested for attacking a disabled woman. My mum is never backward about coming forward

Your mum sounds awesome!

Something like this happened when my mother and I went to a local store (not WalMart, not that it matters). She was already having mobility problems then and moved verrrrry slowly. There were three or four doors at the store entrance, so they could have gone around us and gotten into the store at their preferred speed, but noooo ... they stayed behind us and then, once we actually got into the store, they charged around us and I heard one of them mutter something like "FINALLY ..."

I wanted to say something truly snotty but I got the impression mom hadn't heard him, and if I laid into him she'd know what had happened and would just be mortified.
I'm counting on karma to even things out in a couple of decades ...

[RealUnimportant]

Carts don't help.

People just forget that you can't stop on a dime, and sidestep right in front of you.

Having one of those carts slam into your calves is the quickest way to be reminded about how inertia works!

[Kristev]

Scream the truth and shame the SC.

[Merriweather]

Hubby is on crutches for a similar injury right now (5 weeks of rest, crutches and a brace, fun) and believe me, 10 0r 33, people will act the same.

I've told him, next time someone barges in front of him or knocks a crutch out from under him he should fall heavily and then start yelling and screaming, bet they think twice next time.

And for best effect on the SC, don't scream for a doctor, scream for a lawyer - that'll put the fear of whatever power they believe in into them

[Golden Phoenix]

Hubby is on crutches for a similar injury right now (5 weeks of rest, crutches and a brace, fun) and believe me, 10 0r 33, people will act the same.

I've told him, next time someone barges in front of him or knocks a crutch out from under him he should fall heavily and then start yelling and screaming, bet they think twice next time.

[Kristev]

I think what happened in the first post was just terrible.

[greek_jester]

Carts don't help.

People just forget that you can't stop on a dime, and sidestep right in front of you.

People have done that to my mum when she's shopping. If they try yelling at her, she cheerfully yells back, calling them morons for forgetting the laws of physics.

She once actually started hefting her walking stick & asking one particularly persistent twit if they really want to be arrested for attacking a disabled woman. My mum is never backward about coming forward

[Seshat]

Carts don't help.

People just forget that you can't stop on a dime, and sidestep right in front of you.