To think you should not demand more information if someone is exempt from mask wearing?

[youngandbroken]

I know the importance of wearing a mask, and genuinely try to wear one when I can however I have CPTSD and some days are far, far worse than others (I tend to avoid going out where possible on these days). Today is one of those days, I live in a tower block and just went to put the bins out - that's all and had a woman stop me getting back up to my flat and have a go at me for not wearing a mask. I'm not comfortable explaining that I have mental illnesses, let alone explaining what caused those. I apologised and said that I am exempt to which she said NO your not, there are elderly people in this flat block. I know this and will always stay as far away from everyone as possible, constant hand washing and sanitizing and again I will wear a mask whenever I can do that without having a major panic attack. I ended up explaining but that then caused another panic attack.
All I was trying to do was take the bins out, there wasn't anyone else in the hallway when I went in, the woman followed me - if she had been there already I would have waited. Am I wrong to think that you shouldn't ask people to explain why they are exempt? I know there are people who do take the mick but there are also many who are genuine.

@youngandbroken
I am not putting my neighbours at any more risk than anyone else in the block is.
Of course you are. You are breathing, are you not. There's no reducing your potential contagiousness.

No one at all should be asking why you are exempt. That is private, and for those unable to wear a mask due to a past trauma, is utterly inappropriate for anyone to be probing for that sort of information.
It is like when some knob gives you grief for having a Blue Badge and demands to know why.

Piss off and mind your own business. Also you are not exempt if you are capable of wearing a mask. HTH

Yep, is whole "I am am exempt but still wear a mask" is just used as a stick to beat the genuinely exempt with (you know.. the ones who can't wear a mask).
I can't swim, but I do 20 lengths of my local pool every morning. Sounds ridiculous, yeah?

Jesus some of the people on this thread. Putting your neighbours at risk by taking the bins out? I can't actually believe people are still thinking like this.

The world has gone mad!!

@VainAbigail Im currently reading Laura Dodsworths book A State of Fear and im sure one of the case studies in there and the MNer you mentioned is the same person.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3978398-mask-shamed-disability-complain-some-tmi

Regardless of your justification and whether you would have waited if someone was in the foyer etc, you've put neighbours at risk.

How has she put her neighbours at risk by putting the bins out? If she did meet a neighbour she will be presumably 2m or more away and will have been in their company for less than 10 minutes, every block of flats I've ever seen has had fairly wide corridors with ventilation systems in them, OP and neighbour would (or should) then wash their hands upon returning to their own flats. Transmission in such circumstances would be highly unlikely. There is no more risk from that scenario than there would be walking down the street or popping into the corner shop.

I actually think more people should be challenged about this.

Unless you are specifically employed to challenge people about their mask wearing then no, more people should not be challenged as the reason someone is not wearing a mask is not the business of every Tom, Dick, and Nebby Nora. The self-appointed Covid Police are one of the most distasteful things to have come out of this whole debacle, a bunch of nosey whiners who seem to be on a mission to prove that they're pandemicking better than anyone else.

A family member had an interesting conversation in our local tesco petrol station a few weeks back. They filled up and went to go inside to pay (always withdraws the money and pays with cash). They are exempt from wearing a mask.
A tesco staff member stopped them at the door and refused them entry to pay without a mask. When my family member told them she didn't have to wear one they said that they still weren't allowing them in because they didn't want to lose their job.
My fm offered to hand them the payment as they had correct change, this was refused, also the offer to put it on a wall to be picked up or paid through the window.

The staff member then threatened my fm with security, saying they had the car details if fm left. Fm said this was a good idea as they could give payment to security who could then give to staff. Staff member then said they would make an exception on this occasion.
All of this took place in a very busy garage forecourt with people looking causing embarrassment to my fm who was shaken up by the incident and needed reassuring that they hadn't done anything wrong. They didn't want to complain though due to the medical condition.

Nobody should be challenging you to the extent that you feel uncomfortable. A quick, "have you got a mask?", "no, I'm exempt. " should be sufficient.

Wow I can’t believe some of the responses. People need to mind their own business. Nobody should have to wear a badge or lanyard, sure why not stick a hat on their heads saying exempt? People need to calm down and stop accosting people. Nobody knows anyone else’s situation

"It’s the same as a blue badge IMO. You wouldn’t be able to park in a disabled space and say “I have a disability so you can’t question me.” This is the same."

Actually if some random vigilante /nosey fucker stuck their beak in, you can say exactly that.

Tbf there is no being exempt from wearing a mask. People make the choice (regardless of issues) I dont like wearing a mask, I have issues with breathing, I'm now use to the mask I wear. I do look at people who dont wear them and roll my eyes. But that's just between me and myself. I often wonder what non mask wearers would do it the mask was for their protection and not just others.

The op and her neighbour could sit together in a busy pub or restaurant with no masks on and that's safe according to 'the rules', but she's putting them at risk by passing maskless in a corridor? Do people not realise how ridiculous these rules are?

@Sometimeswinning

Tbf there is no being exempt from wearing a mask. People make the choice (regardless of issues) I dont like wearing a mask, I have issues with breathing, I'm now use to the mask I wear. I do look at people who dont wear them and roll my eyes. But that's just between me and myself. I often wonder what non mask wearers would do it the mask was for their protection and not just others.

There is being exempt... there has been a few examples in this thread. If you think a full blown PTSD flashback is something minor that you roll your eyes at, then that says more about you than it does the person struggling to wear a mask. And the person struggling to wear a bit of cloth will have the same reaction with the plastic oxygen masks too.

@FlyLight

Jesus some of the people on this thread. Putting your neighbours at risk by taking the bins out? I can't actually believe people are still thinking like this.

Project Fear has well and truly done its job hasn't it? I'm shocked at the reaction of people these days if someone doesn't wear a mask for 30 seconds to walk to the loo of a bar in town with 5 cases per 100,000

Last night I was out in a local bar. The bar held around 120 people. No masks worn as we were seated. My son phoned so I walked out to the lobby where I was completely on my own. The bouncer came charging after me shouting 'put your mask on' - so I can sit with 120 people without wearing one but when I'm standing in an area alone, I have to put a mask on - how can anyone justify the sense in that?

@SamW98 like you, I have had enough of this ridiculous pantomime. Common sense has been totally abandoned.

"People make the choice (regardless of issues)".

Really? No I don't think my profoundly disabled teenager is making a choice.

[quote BusyLizzie61]@youngandbroken
I am not putting my neighbours at any more risk than anyone else in the block is.
Of course you are. You are breathing, are you not. There's no reducing your potential contagiousness.[/quote]
People really don't like it when you call them out on their bullshit.

NO you dont have to explain why your exempt to anyone.
Masks dont fully protect people. Social distancing does.
People think if you wear a mask you can go right next to a person and not get infected. This is wrong as the particles still escape.
If she was blocking you from going inside your building you can shove her put the way.

There's only 4 flats in my block but we've never even thought of wearing masks when walking through the communal area. It's out household.

Same here - I live in a block of 4 flats that are all owned by the same Housing association, we have had no communication (letters, emails, notes in our online portals, posters in hallways etc) of such a rule. In the last year we all had our kitchens replaced as part of the regular maintenance schedule and we all received detailed letters regarding covid safety during the week the fitters were working and even then they didn't require us to wear masks in hallways.

Sometimes people will still be wearing their masks in the hall if they have come in with shopping etc (the bus stop is literally outside our front door) but it will be because they haven't taken their mask off from having to wear it elsewhere - bus/taxi etc - and their hands are full rather than because they actively put it on to walk in the front door.

At Marks yesterday I had the misfortune of waking past some random woman berating anyone that didn’t use the store provided hand sanitizer on the way in. She had no way of knowing if people had already used their own, had skin issues or allergies or so forth. The more people ignored her, the louder she became

I hate these self appointed covid marshalls.

I have eczema and my skin has been flaring up a lot and more aggressively than usual over the last year to the point I had to take some heavy duty steroids to get it under control. My dermatologist recommended a specific sanitiser to use as using multiple different unknown sanitisers in different shops/buildings was exacerbating my flare ups, so now I carry a small bottle of the sanitiser with me everywhere (I have bottles in every coat and bag I own) and use that instead of the stores own.

I walked into a store the other day where the sanitiser station was just to the left of the door and there was a queue of 3/4 people waiting to use it. Rather than block the entrance waiting for them to move, I stepped over to the right of the doorway whilst putting my own sanitiser on my hands. Despite this a woman stood behind me very loudly said "Excuse Me! The sanitiser is here, you must use it!". I explained I was using my own as I have a skin condition and she was still arguing that I had to use the store sanitiser because it wasn't safe as there could be anything in my bottle .

At that point everyone was staring but fortunately a staff member came over and told her politely, but very firmly, that the sanitiser was provided for customer convenience but customers were welcome to use use own and if she had an issue with that then she would need to leave the store.

I find that most people wear them so the few that don't I assume have a good reason to to. There might be a few idiots who don't bother even though they could but since the majority are more sensible it's not worth getting worked up over.

Those who suggest having a doctors note would help, it doesnt. I`m in the US, and many of my patients, the vast majority in fact, cannot wear masks - I specialise in treating women and girls who are victims of sexual violence.

A few months ago I became so sick of already deeply traumatised and suffering women and girls being abused and harassed for not being able to wear masks that I wrote letters for those who wanted them. It did not stop them being abused or harassed one single bit, it made it worse.

Not only did the abuse continue, but my extremely understaffed clinic started getting phone calls from members of the public who were calling to berate, threaten and abuse me too .

Of the few callers I did personally speak to, the abuse ranged from, "youre not a real doctor, how dare you write that letter"</span> (Im a surgeon) to "you`re a lying whore." There were worse comments too, which I do not care to repeat.

The worst bit of it was that my patients felt even worse, and they felt that they had become a burden to me (absolutely not true) because people were saying that they were going to call me and check.

Yanbu. Practice saying firmly and clearly "you have no authority over me and I do.not have to tell you the personal private medical reasons why i can't wear a mask because it is none of your business. Leave me alone"

Say it a few times our loud alone. Maybe practice to a friend over the phone. Once you have said it a few times it will come out easily if you are challenged again.

I think mask compliance among the people who just don't like wearing masks has got a lot better as far as I am able to detect. It was certainly a problem at first but busybodying like this is unnecessary and intrusive.