He Changed His Workout Because It Wasn’t Accessible—Then His Dad Made a Hurtful Comment
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Most parents would hear their kid say he’s modifying a workout to fit his body’s needs and think, great, that’s smart. It’s literally the kind of self-awareness fitness experts encourage.
But for the parents in this story, the moment their son used the word “disability,” all logic went out the window.
The teen in this story describes how crutches slow down his daily movements and how ADHD and Autism impact his communication. But even still, his parents are quick to remind him there’s always someone out there who has it worse.
His dad even threatened to take him to a hospital to see “real disabled people.”
You’ll want to keep reading for this one.
AITA for calling myself disabled?
Me and my parents were talking about how I want to go to the gym and have been motivated to try and do more stuff.
I mentioned to my dad how I found this gym thing that I’ve been modifying to fit my needs more.
He asked why, and I told him something along the lines of, “Well, they’re not exactly disabled friendly,” or something along those lines.
That’s when his parents totally blew up on him.
My parents got very mad at me, and told me that I cannot call myself that, and we argued for a good ten minutes about it.
My dad said he would take me to the hospital to see “real disabled people” and that he would love to see me try to get put on disability legally.
My mom on the other hand said that I get wrapped up with internet stuff, and that I don’t need my crutches, and basically said I’m taking resources from other people who need it more.
He gives some relevant background on why he decided to use that term.
I get seizures that we suspect to be functional, though we are waiting for spinal tap results to confirm.
I have chronic pain that’s kept me in the house for months at a time and keeps me from going to school as well as hanging out with friends.
I use crutches to put less pressure on my legs as they hurt more than the rest of my body. I also have hyper-mobility. I am in physiotherapy that I go to weekly to help with all of this.
I’m also diagnosed with ADHD and Autism.
In his mind, the term was a no-brainer, but his parents’ reactions are making him second-guess himself.
I thought it was more than normal to call myself disabled, and that I had every right to it, but they made me doubt myself so bad.
I’ve been thrown into a downward spiral by the whole argument and I’m now wondering if I’m actually being an AH by calling myself disabled.
AITA?
Well this escalated quickly.
What did Reddit have to say?
His parents may be choosing not to accept the reality in front of them.
His parents are really just showing their ignorance.
Clearly the parents have some kind of hold up with the whole idea of having a disability.
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This issue could go even deeper than anyone thought.
His parents could have heard him say “disabled friendly” and responded with curiosity instead of anger.
They could have asked what modifications he’s making, whether the gym has accessible equipment, if there’s anything they can help with. That would have taken about thirty seconds of basic empathy.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a grandson who is tired of driving 5 hours one way to work on his grandparent’s investment property for free.
Instead, he got a dad who wanted to drag him to a hospital for a lesson in “real” suffering and a mom who told him his crutches are optional and the internet is to blame for how he sees himself.
Both reactions boil down to the same thing: we decide what you are, not you.
You don’t get to gate keep someone’s experience just because accepting it makes you uncomfortable.
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