Also telling a disabled person who has experienced discrimination & traumatic assault that it’s their job to educate the person who victimised them is horrific.
You’ve read this thread, step up & do some educating about disability in your workplaces, families & communities. /15
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What was so frustrating about the experience was that by making Other Half leave the nurse created access barriers.
He could have read for me & supported me with the drink.
OH is even down as my carer on the maternity forms 5/
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The sad thing is in all my maternity care so far this is the first time I’ve encouraged ableism.
The midwives are great, my blindness doesn’t phase them at all & we’re planning how to meet my sensory & access needs in labour.
Nurses clearly need disability awareness training 6/
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What I want non disabled people to understand is how utterly normal this experience felt.
As a blind person I’m usually manhandled, patronised & denied access support by medical professionals.
I probably will complain but honestly I expect the same experience next time. 7/
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So if you’re a healthcare professional reflect on your awareness around blindness & visual impairment.
If you lack knowledge or confidence to provide care & support then educate yourself.
There are so many excellent resources provided by organisations like
@RNIB
&
@guidedogs
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And if you don’t have the time to follow blind advocates, watch a video or read a blog.
Just reflect on how it might feel to have a medicated drink shoved into your mouth. Or to be talked to like a child.
I’m blind & I am still a person. Treat me with dignity, care & respect 9/
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I want people to understand why “make a complaint” isn’t necessarily an accessible, safe or easy experience for a disabled person.
First, it won’t be anonymous, how many blind pregnant people with guide dogs in their third trimester are interacting with the department? 10/
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So healthcare staff will know that I have complained. The same staff who in 12 weeks will get decisions over my care & support in labour.
And no it’s not an unrealistic leap from forcefully shoving a drink in someone’s mouth to denying them pain relief. 11/
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Also I don’t trust the complaint process to be accessible, even down to my assistive tech accessing the website or are there large print paper forms?
It will also require administrative & emotional labour I don’t know that I have the resilience or capacity for. /12
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Also as anyone who has interacted with the NHS recently regarding pregnancy care knows… this might not be the biggest battle.
What do I put my energy towards? What if this complaint process takes my time away from asserting my access needs in my birth plan? 13/
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So unless you’re prepared to support me, fill out inaccessible paperwork, come to meetings, gather the evidence to assert my rights, do the labour of educating healthcare professionals & protect me from further abuse or discrimination, don’t tell me “you should complain”. /14
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Thank you for all the kind replies 🥰
Normally I share my details as a disability advocate but I’ll be stopping work soon for Baby!
If anyone can send some support to me as a soon to be disabled parent I would be incredibly grateful. Thank you /16
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Alternatively you can donate to
@guidedogs
who have provided me with so much support including my beautiful Guide Dog Ava.
Ava has given me the independence & confidence to become a parent.
Sponsor a guide dog puppy here! 🦮⬇️
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If you want to learn how to assist a blind or visually impaired person then I highly recommend
@guidedogs
sighted guiding training course.
It’s free, online & open to anyone who wants to learn how to confidently & respectfully offer support.
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@BlondeHistorian
Advocating for yourself is part of a being an adult, disabled or not. If you told the nurse OH is your carer and insisted he be present for your tests and she ignored your wishes, then shame on hospital. Otherwise you're also responsible for the outcome.
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@TheFlyOnThePen1
This is a victim blaming tweet. It is hateful to blame someone for being discriminated against & assaulted
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@BlondeHistorian
Complaints often go nowhere and just retraumatise, unfortunately. I was emotionally and verbally absued by a midwife, pretty horribly. Spent 2 years chasing a formal complaint and all they did was send it to the midwife to handle herself. We got a letter from her basically saying
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@BlondeHistorian
You need to seriously put in a formal report to the people above her. That is unacceptable and downright unprofessional and cruel. She needs to be reported and that report needs to be followed up on. Others will thank you. I’m sure you’re not the only one.
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@BlondeHistorian
Broke my heart to read this. Experienced ablesim via my nurse at one of my first baby Dr appointments due to my wheelchair use. It was horrific and traumatizing. The Dr was not much better. I did not return & then the office proceeded to harass me about coming back. I refused, +
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@BlondeHistorian
@HannahEHarris12
I'm so sorry you have to endure this!
I dream that we 1 day will be saying
we are all normal but we all have special needs that must/need to be met.
All must be met with respect.
Some can read, others not.
Some need to bring a workdog, others not.
Some can walk, others not.
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@BlondeHistorian
I’m so sorry that you were treated like this. I have different disabilities, but the same impatience on bad days. Unfortunately, you are right about complaining making things worse. We can only really make a complaint when we are completely done with that facility or it gets bad.
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@BlondeHistorian
Amy, as a mother of a child with a severe vision impairment, I am going to disagree with you. It's no one's job to "fix it" but you. Do not put yourself in a victim's role..at any point during that appointment you needed to be assertive and said no to the abuse!
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@BlondeHistorian
First- CONGRATS! Life will never be the same, for sure.
I am the OH for a disabled wife. Mostly good experiences but when it is not, it is bad. I’m also a doc and no, I am not stepping out so that you can attempt an IV 3-5 times without witness or a patient advocate to say stop
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@BlondeHistorian
Well put. Much as it pains me to say, I'd advise keeping records, either verbal &/or on paper w details regarding the issues you face between now & giving birth, & once you're home w your new wee one, then start digging these out to file complaints.
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@BlondeHistorian
This was the push I needed to not give up on my fight for accessibility in my workplace. And for it not to be such a battle for the next person
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@BlondeHistorian
Thank you for your tweets. Everyone needs education about treating disabled people with dignity and respect, as well as what supports access to resources. Everyone will experience disability in their lives, via accident or aging. Our system values productivity over humanity.
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