I'm not Handicapped...

No... no... You're not handicapped. You're an asshole.




I know it sounds rude... un-PC... a little bit like maybe I'm having a bitchy day. But I met a woman in a wheelchair today that actually created an awkward silence on a public bus by being absolutely rude (and rather racist) to a mother with an infant in a stroller.

Yes, the stroller was kinda big and the mother had stationed it in the "handicapped" cubby on the side of the bus (with her infant IN the buggy). There really was NO other place for the stroller to go. And when the woman came on the bus, she demanded the mother move (not ask, not wait for her to unlock the wheels of the stroller as she was in the process of doing, but demanded), then the stroller couldn't move far enough down the aisle to let the wheelchair into the cubby (because the arm on the elderly seat was broken and locked in the down position). So the woman in the wheelchair tells the mother to stop being stupid and move the buggy straight back down the aisle (where it clearly did not fit). The mother, who was asian, started to explain that she couldn't go back any further (and forward was out because the wheelchair was nearly ramming her infant). The woman then points to the sign that says, "Please allow for handicap access" and doesn't quite shout, but raises her voice saying, "Can't you read! You have to move!" The bus at the time was back in motion and the entire population of the lower level of the bus was suddenly fascinated with things outside the window.

The father, who was sitting in the back of the bus with a 2-year old toddler and a 5 year old child has finally managed to free himself of the children and other passengers and trades places with his wife. Then physically lifts the stroller 3 feet off the ground so the woman in the wheelchair can get into the cubby. (She backs in, btw, and stares down the entire bus). The father then sets the buggy back down and somehow manages to allow space for people to pass to get on/off the bus. You'd think that'd be the end... but no.

5 minutes later, the woman in the wheelchair looks at the father and says, "You might want to explain to your wife that this space is for handicapped people, not her bags."

I almost choked...

To his credit, the father was quite calm, and said, "No, I don't think that was the problem. There was no where for the buggy to go. She couldn't lift it like I could."

The woman scoffs and says, "Maybe if her English was better we wouldn't have had this problem."

Again... I almost choked.

Thankfully, my stop was next and I got the hell off that bus. In the back of my mind I was wondering who was going to help that woman get OFF the bus... The wheelchair ramp wasn't working and it took the driver and one very nice passenger to get her on and in the cubby to begin with, and that good samaritan had already departed.

I don't want to use the word entitled... but she was a bit of a bitch. And no, being in a wheelchair doesn't give you the right to be a racist bitch.

Swirling Dervish

I really don't know what happened to the rest of February. But I can touch on a few of the highlights that I do remember.

1) Superbowl Sunday at my place... followed by some nasty food poisoning. Boo. To be honest, it wasn't THAT great of a game, especially in light of the fact that the 1st half didn't end until after 12:30am. Most people stuck around for the ridiculous full field returned interception to end the half and to see the Boss tea-bag the camera guy during the half-time show. PS: The Boss, still rocks hard. So I curled up in my bed, feeling a little queasy (chalking it up to the two beers I'd had), and watched another quarter of football. I couldn't keep my eyes open for much more of it. Then I woke up to (vomiting, boo on bad chicken from Superquinn) the ESPN highlight reel showing a crap load of amazing in the 4th quarter. I do like Warner. Part of me wanted him to win. But again... The Cardinals? Really? On another note, it's a good thing that Ben's a big dude. Otherwise they might have had to run his name down his arms. I'm always surprised to see that Rothesburger can fit on the back of a jersey.

2) The GP case presentations were the first time I left my flat since the Sunday. Then the MCQ, which was an absolute disaster... followed by a weekend in London with my cousin Kate. Kate has been living between London and NYC for the past few years, but after getting married last summer, she and Beck have set up a permanent base of sorts in London. I was really just back on solid foods at that point and not up to a huge crazy weekend, but that's cool because neither was Kate. We ended up seeing two movies: Slumdog and Doubt. Two totally different genres, two absolutely fantastic films. Doubt just reinforced how incredible the actors are, and the writing is even more impressive. Slumdog somehow shows the worst of India for two hours and you leave the theatre feeling good and uplifted. I don't know how that works (probably the dance sequence). But what a great story-telling mechanism. It was really intense. Anyway, aside from the movies, we went out for food and slept in and walked around Hyde Park. It was a chill weekend (and cold... My flight was uber delayed due to snow everywhere), and a good way to not spend all weekend in my room sleeping, but not draining myself entirely.


3) GP OSCE... was ok. Followed by the ICC for Surg Soc (huge undertaking, so glad it's over), then a trip to Berlin. It was Friday the 13th followed by Valentine's day, and I figured it was a good idea to get out of Dublin for that kind of weekend. Plus, I hadn't seen Heather since 2002 (at her wedding)... and that's a long time ago. We did a "walking tour" of Berlin that entailed walking, getting coffee, walking, getting breakfast, walking, getting more coffee... you sense a pattern? Yeah, it was really really cold.

Yeah, I'm totally clutching a coffee... and I was a little bit cold. I didn't have much time in Berlin, but I thought it was a great city. Again, it wasn't really what I was expecting from a capitol city, but it was really fascinating. It's a strong reminder that some things I've regarded as ancient history are really rather recent... Like the Wall, which came down in my lifetime, and I do remember.

3) I came back and jumped right into Paediatrics. New rotations = ++ work. And the super scary thing that I've been avoiding happened. I fell in love with one of my rotations. It didn't happen at first. Actually, the first week was just lectures, but it happened. Anyway. A week of lectures then it was the Trauma Module for Surg Soc (that's right, Liz does not have weekends off... ever.)


Let's thank Jack for being a good sport and letting us truss him up in the board. The Trauma module was quite successful and well received. But it did take most/all of my day. I was pretty beat.

The second week on Paeds wasn't great. It was split between lectures/tutorials and team work. My team wasn't terribly available (not that I blame them) so there was a lot of wandering around and being in the way. Plus, the winter-vomiting bug hit the wards and a bunch of kids and staff were sick, so it wasn't a good time to be on the wards. Bunch of my classmates caught paeds-flu (the "I'm around kids and suddenly I'm sick all the time" type of illness. I think I shook that back when I was teaching).

Last week I was up in Mullingar (small town west of Dublin), on part of my Paeds rotation. I loved it. I took 2 extra A&E calls because I wanted to be around the hospital and hang out with these kids... hm... Now I need to look into all the Pediatric options in the states... Scary.

And that brings us up to now... March... crazy... I'm in Crumlin hospital this week, Cavan next week, and back to Crumlin before the Paeds exams to wrap up the rotation. Then it's on to OBGYN, then exams, then it's June and I'm going... Lord only knows where. AH! Anyway... I've put off work long enough. Time to get cracking.