Having even one disability is hard, particularly if it’s invisible. Having multiple disabilities, or being disabled plus being any kind of minority, is VERY hard. I’m not a minority—apart from being multiply-disabled—but I listen to those who are.
I’m autistic, mobility challenged, and recently lost most of my ability to use speech. Abled people show me some respect for my obvious disability…until they figure out I cannot speak. Then I’m suddenly deaf, daft, and less than them, in their eyes.
Just yesterday, I was doing my usual weekly food shopping. I tried to use a new payment method, and the cashier was incompetent, rude, and nosy. She claimed she had no idea how to use the payment method—that her employer created—asked me a bunch of nosy questions about my ability to speak and hear, and never called for any help to finish the transaction. I just switched payment methods, paid, and left.
I don’t have the energy to argue with ignorant jerks.
