Disabilities Might Annoy You. Get Over It.

Sometimes I wonder about people, I really do.

Apology after disabled man told to leave Medway centre

"A council has apologised to a disabled man who was told to leave a sports centre because he was making noise.

Laurence Morgan, 20, who suffers from tuberous sclerosis and autism was asked to leave Strood Sports Centre after a member of the public complained.

The genetic disease causes tumours to grow on his organs, including his brain, and he communicates through sounds, some of which are high pitched."

Sounds pretty meanspirited already doesn't it? Well just wait:

"Mr Morgan had been waiting for his lunch at the leisure centre, where he has a weekly hydrotherapy session, when the duty manager asked him to leave.

Ms Richardson [his mother] said: "She approached him, pointed at her watch and said 'Twenty minutes, don't you think that's enough of that noise? Take him outside.

"'We've had complaints from the public take him outside'."

Right, so you're a duty manager and a member of the public comes up to complain to you that "that man over there is annoying me with all his noise". Do you

1) explain, politely, to the member of the public that unlike "nuisance" noise this probably can't be helped?

or

2) wander up to man and demand he leaves as he's getting on everyone's nerves?

It's a no brainer. Disregarding the man's disability, basic tact would've meant a polite enquiry at the very most rather than a demand to leave. Patience is a virtue when dealing with others, and I am truly appalled that someone can be a "duty manager" without that particularly important attribute.

I will forever be thankful that I was brought up to treat people with dignity in my daily dealings.

If you feel benevolent and particularly generous, this writer always appreciates things bought for him from his wishlist

What Do You Tell Your Children??

Some parents are worried about how to explain a television presenters lack of hand (she was born with only one)

But a minority of parents expressed concern that Ms Burnell's appearance was "scaring" children. One father said he feared it would give his daughter nightmares and a mother said her two-year-old girl could not watch because she thought the presenter had been hurt.

If you're daughter gets nightmares because someone is somehow different to her, then you are already bringing her up badly.

If a child asks "Mummy, why does that lady only have one hand?" you say "Because she was born with only one hand. Not everyone is born exactly the same, and that is why this world is so interesting." Simple.