Am I being pathetic?

[Sophiej31]

Does anyone else get really quite upset when other people laugh and joke about your food allergy? Someone told me I was "only jealous because I can't eat nice food" today and it really got to me. I'm quite a strong person but I find this a really touchy subject.

[aggiedog]

Well, it's my dd's PA, but yes, I don't find it funny.  Funny coming from a fellow PA person, in that if-you-don't-laugh-you'll-cry sort of way, not funny when coming from folks that truly don't "get it."

Hugs.

[hedgehog]

Would you be pathetic if someone joked about your being in a wheelchair, and said that you were only jealous because you could not go for a nice walk? 

[CMdeux]

No-- what's truly pathetic is anyone that feels the need to MOCK a major limitation caused by a medical condition that a "friend" cannot possibly help being limited by.

There are some things that I simply find UN funny in the extreme:

joking about food allergy deaths

(yeah-- funny ha. ha. ha.  I live with the real risk every day, and my family finds nothing funny in it to truly have our noses rubbed in it like that)

joking about KILLING someone using their food allergy as a weapon

(holy ****-- how can ANY person who knows someone with a food allergy think that this is a funny thing to say to them??    Lack of trust, much?)


taunting a person about his/her food allergy and how much it SUCKS to never have _______

(Just cruel.  What do they do for fun in their free time?  Poke at assistance dogs on the public transit system?  Steal from kids in wheelchairs?  Steal the oxygen tanks from little old ladies at the park?)

Telling the person with FA that they should have been eliminated by natural selection.

(I lack words for how dispicable this is.  ANYONE who would even hint this to a person with FA's is a jerk.  Period.  Be grateful that they showed you this side of themselves rather than ongoing endangerment with a smile, I suppose-- but that's about the best that can be said for it.)


Telling a "friend" with LTFA that they are a serious "drag" because of their FA's, and the limits that they impose on a group outing/activity.

(Does that person HONESTLY think that the FA person isn't already pretty much feeling like **** for needing to ask for accommodations from others to begin with??)

[twinturbo]

No, not pathetic at all.

Someone identified your disability, which is an immutable characteristic, then flexed their privilege free of that disability to you to make mockery of difference of ability.

This is the written version. My internal dialogue is a bit more colorful and not safe for work.