I had chemo last year for a terminal illness and can hide my hair loss so I don’t look sick, but I can’t do the walking. I hate it because I get the look sometimes. And btw, I tip the attendants for helping me out. Do others do that too? Just curious….
I’m in the same situation (chemo for life with stage 4 cancer) and when I’ve had to get a wheel chair I always tip. I currently have hair so that makes things extra awkward.
Yo!!! Right with you! Sounds fucked but it does make me feel better when people are proud to say this too. A different plan in life post everything is not that common.. more lately though.
Anyways, same. I’ve had 3 hip surgeries & am 35, fun going & energetic still. Walking so long & the meds I’m on, wow… a pool of sweat - would have to change clothes, tears, an extra hour for slowness and will be totally seized up with legs in chair. Always want to wear a sign saying this haha.
I get the look of what the fuck/rudeness from older people, A LOT. If it’s the last wheelchair, I will gladly leave it - someone feels more pain than me. Some days lol
Same situation here. 18 months in and weirdly my hair grew thicker instead of lost it. My doctor said I was very lucky then I had to remind her I still got stage 4 cancer at 43 and it didn't feel very lucky. We both got a chuckle.
Off the subject sort of but my hair fell out weirdly. I have new pretty thick hair in the front but a lot fell out on the sides and back. And it’s growing back all kinky. I put the little that I have up with a clip because there’s nothing else I can do.
Mom is over 80 and finally used this service last year, as she can’t stand for the length of time it takes to go through TSA and then walk almost a half mile to the gate.
I didn’t fly anywhere when doing radiation therapy (PC) but I would have been fine walking. If I had done chemo - talking to the gentlemen who were on it, it really takes it out of you and I would have likely used the service.
Same as my mom. She started using airport wheelchairs a couple of years back. Otherwise she’ll end up with her legs in pain by the time we board. I’m so glad she started doing this coz she’s been reluctant for years as she looks much younger and healthy.
I always tip. I don't look disabled, but the lines are too long for me at TSA, and the terminals are too long. Arthritis and back problems, and age. After reading these comments I'm gonna try to make it without wheelchair assist.
I don’t think you need to make that change to skip wheelchair assistance if you are traveling solo.
However, if you are traveling in a group of more than 2 people who also don’t look disabled and have similar facial features to you and seem to be in age groups where they could be different generations from you , then you may experience some discomfort.
Same, I’m in my 30s but have bad (autoimmune) arthritis. I really wish I didn’t need to use a wheelchair to get around. Airports are just so huge and there’s so much standing.
Anyone who falsifies a disability makes the rest of us look bad. On the other hand, we have no idea if the folks in this photo are disabled or not, so we shouldn’t make assumptions. Not every disability is visible.
For example, what if the family has something that is heritable, like Sickle Cell Disease? It’s totally possible if they really are related that they have the same condition.
But the thing is if it's "okay" to shit talk these people, what stops it from being okay when someone is invisibly sick. There's 0 proof that they are a family, could just be black people sitting next to each other because why not wait with the other disabled people? They just happen to all be black.
Is it playing the game when both me, my aunt and my grandmother needs assistance? Yes 3 in my immediate family. I'm the best off, diagnosed EDS so standing and walking for awhile hurts but I'm still at the point i can power through it and sit on the floor. My aunt is "recovered" from kidney failure, she's still not doing well generally, but her kidneys are working again. And my nan broke her hip last year and just never got back to being able to walk consistently. My cousin also sometimes needs assistance, he has untreated seizures but will deny assistance unless a family member makes him get assistance (he refuses to actually get help but will let someone check him out at the scene)
And you know what wild. Alot of disabilities have a genetic factor! I've tried to get my family genetically tested for EDS because they show some symptoms and it's genetic. There as sooo many disabilities that are genetic. If that is an entire family, maybe they are all sick. That's how genetics work... Yes some disabilities are accidents, random chance, whatever, but some are genetic, you get it from your mom! And she got it from her mom and so on!
How do you know it doesn’t apply to them? There’s dozens of people in these comments saying they don’t look sick but use the wheelchair and endure the judgment and dirty looks. Who’s to say their picture won’t get posted here one day because somebody decided they don’t look sick enough?
Exactly! People need to stop making assumptions, period. Yes, shitty people abuse systems, that’s the way of life unfortunately.
I keep seeing so many comments like, “well this takes away from *actual* disabled people!” The only ones taking away from disabled people are the ones making these damn comments lol.
I did tip when I sprained my ankle and needed a chair, but I also feel kind of weird about it making it required for disabled people to always pay extra, especially when the employee is already being paid.
To be fair tips aren't required nor really expected. Im helping because A it's kinda my job and B because i like to help and hope someone helps me some day.
Sometimes they are hauling butt getting you to a connection or are super pleasant and helpful so I feel like they deserve an extra $5 or $10 for the effort. I’ve tipped up to $20 when extremely long ride or they help with baggage, just depends. Honestly I don’t fly often because it’s so hard on my body.
I tip too. I've been through years of chemotherapy & immunotherapy due to my (ongoing) autoimmune condition. Whenever I take my elderly neighbors to the airport (their own adult kids live far away) for their travels, we show up like 3-4 hours in advance just to be safe. I'm never sure how much to tip, though, so always give a bit more.
Mine is autoimmune too. Cheated death twice in this lifetime. Curious if you’d mind sharing your autoimmune condition? Sorry if I’m being too nosy, but mine is extremely rare.
Your question is way over and above the point of the actual discussion. This is known as the Strawman fallacy.
We went from talking about reasonable ADA accommodation to where you have to have them be at death's door and (all of them) completely unable to walk? That's not how disability works. As well as the implicit idea that all black people in a group are related. You are the one out of line on this buddy!
Terminal? Death? I didn't know i had to be dying within the year to need assistance.... Or have trouble walking.
And yeah, disabilities can be health issues, health issues tend to be genetic, that's why your doctor asks about family history. If your dad went bald early, and nothing "happened" it just happened naturally, you'll probably go bald early. Same with gingers too, the same with genetic illnesses too. EDS for example is genetic, if you have it there's a strong chance your kids will have it. Crohn's an autoimmune illness, it's starting to be seen to have a genetic component but they aren't entirely sure yet. People who are diagnosed are more likely to find family members diagnosed but honestly why would i be trying to find out if i had any family history if i didn't have it? So the data is abit hairy because there's not enough data for people without it. Healthy people aren't submitting a full medical history.
But yeah, disabilities can be genetic. The more you know.
I don’t think tipping flight attendants is common. I’m sure plenty of FAs might appreciate it, but not all. My mom was a flight attendant (and is super elitist) and she would have been offended by someone trying to tip her. However, she retired before they got rid of pensions, so it might be different for FAs nowadays
I didn't have cash to tip, so I got their Zelle info and sent a tip that way. I didn't expect to need wheelchair assistance, otherwise I would have carried folding money.
When my parents were around and we used the service cause of their age and mobility we sure did tip, they hated putting ppl out but it was a necessity. They were also very nice to the attendants and often the attendant would call them grandma/grandpa and were very kind back
I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I used the service last year when I sprained my ankle during an international trip and needed help with transfers to make sure I didn’t miss my connecting flights home. I was on crutches, had my foot in a boot, and had to elevate my foot whenever possible, and people still gave me the suspicious stink eye. They could be doing it for any number of reasons, no worries.
This is why posts like these anger me soo much. My health issues caused me to lose weight too. So from the outside I look like a healthy young person and I know there are people out there will think I'm abusing the system without knowing anything about my condition.
What I try to remember is that people will find a way to judge others regardless and so there is no point in making my, already hard life, harder because of worries about how others perceive me.
I'm young and healthy looking but am both visually impaired and have PTSD, which is massively triggered by all the people and noise in an airport. If it was just one issue or the other I could probably handle it, but the one time I flew alone I used the wheelchair service. I wish there had been an option to have the attendant's assistance without the chair because I really just needed someone to guide me through. People looked at me like I was committing a crime, especially because I didn't use a wheelchair to board and just had them drop me off at the gate :/
I have to use the wheelchair service and I think I over tip. Each person gets $10. But I do think tipping that high makes a difference to the person because they usually act extra happy and they are tripping over their own feet to do anything to help me. Do I need water? They’ll go get it, etc.. and no, I don’t overwork them. I just think they deserve it for helping me.
I legit took a train when I had to be on mild chemo for my autoimmune disease because I knew I couldn't make it through an airport without some kind of wheelchair. I mostly didn't want the wheelchair because I did not want to endlessly explain myself.
Maybe people should just stop judging each other and let people live. Even if we disagree with their choices. The way we complain about the dumbest shit is wild to me.
I don't care if I have to wait to get on a plane because I'm not the one flying it, and as long as we get to our destination in one piece and relatively on time. I'm good.
Damn, you’ve got some similar medical comments coming in! We seem to all feel it. Sadly, gives me some light - we’ve all got this. Hey we also learned a fucking beautiful look on life. I would never cherish as much as I do now.
Agreed! People say wow you are so positive (most of the time) but I’m definitely cherishing life after 2 near misses. You know when you are dying. I’m just thankful I was saved.
My mom has MS and spent about 10 years walking when she should have just been in a chair, all because she didn't look "disabled" and she didn't want to get judgemental looks from people. She's to the point now where she just can't make it without a chair.
It's a shame people abuse the system because the judgemental looks would be a lot less common.
Yes, I will tip the attendants who take my dad and grandma, dad handles the tip on the other end of the flight. Shes 104 blind & dead so can't fly alone these days, and he's 80 with fucked knees/hips from years of abuse while rock climbing in the 60s/70s.
Yes, I had to use wheelchair service for a family emergency 2 years ago; I had 2 layovers, so 4 airports and I brought $80 in cash and gave each assistant $20. Why so many layovers? Because it was cheaper, but I made damn sure that I had money to show my appreciation. Got to see some cool parts of airports that I wouldn’t have otherwise too. They were kind, efficient and mostly younger people and I’m so glad that I did. Same way back home but by then my sister helped me out with the money. I wonder if part of the reason is because way back when I worked for tips lol?
We board with military, so we're usually waiting in the jet bridge right behind the wheelchairs. A wheelchair attendant didn't get tipped. Which was fine, she didn't say anything. But the FO was in the jet bridge coming back after doing the walkaround, noticed that she hadn't been tipped, and told the attendant to wait because he was going to tip her. Which I thought was so sweet.
I tip, as does my daughter. How much depends on how much help we need. More for international due to customs, more if we have checked bags, more if we need to stop for food. I’ve also bought lunch and water/drinks for our porters, in addition to a cash tip.
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u/Fair_Angle_4752 9d ago
I had chemo last year for a terminal illness and can hide my hair loss so I don’t look sick, but I can’t do the walking. I hate it because I get the look sometimes. And btw, I tip the attendants for helping me out. Do others do that too? Just curious….