People laughing at my disabled son

[Jennybeans401]

My ds has physical and mental disabilities. We are currently on holiday and I've been feeling upset today as several people have imitated/mocked him (not to his face but laughing in couples behind his back). They have also done this in front of me knowing I'm his mother.

It's made my family feel uncomfortable and I've been thinking should I speak to the hotel about it? We have worked hard to have a nice hiday and didn't expect the guests to be like this.

Don’t let them ruin your holiday with your family, they are just ignorant! Have a lovely rest of the time there xx

I think talk to the hotel manager. Take a photo of them and explain what’s going on. If there is no help PLEASE leave a review explaining how you have been treated including the names of the staff you asked for help from and photos of the guests who mocked your boy.

Name and shame. Know you are welcome and wanted in many places by many people, these are not examples of most people these are the horrid ones.

By the way, the thing about "you don't see people with disabilities in Europe because they're aborted" is simply not true. The great majority of things that cause disabilities are things that can't be screened out via abortion. If disabled kids are less visible, it will be mostly because they are being taken out less.

Trisomies are among the few things where abortion is widely used, but abortion rates for Downs in the UK are similar to those in the rest of Europe.

www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2020-003055_EN.html#:~:text=In%20France%2C%20it%20is%20estimated,unfortunately%20become%20a%20worldwide%20phenomenon.
In France, it is estimated that the proportion of women who have terminated their pregnancy due to Down's syndrome is around 77%, while in Denmark the rate is 97%. In Italy, Germany, the UK and Belgium, the rate exceeds 90%.

We are in Portugal, hotel is very nice and was expensive. We feel disappointed in the guests here. The staff have been lovely and have gone out of their way for us. Guests are a mix of Portuguese, German, French and few British people.

That's so rude. I hope you are all OK and manage to enjoy your holiday. My son has autism and I've heard multiple stories of this happening when people visit France for some reason.

Surely a lot of disabilities are not known before birth so they cant all be aborted

No advice but so very sorry for you and your family that you have experienced this.
It's staggering to read that this sort of behaviour exists today.
Glad your son is still enjoying the trip. Hope the rest of trip is incident free

Op I'm so sorry that you are having to deal with this. Uggh how can people be so disgusting?

It's not up to you to teach people to be decent but if you want to call them out on it I'd say in a very cold tone something like: "You are disgusting to make fun of a little boy". Or in German: "Ihr seid widerlich (dass Ihr euch über einen kleinen Jungen lustig macht)" though that is quite a mouthful. Most Germans speak English so they'll probably understand anyway.

I would actually tell the hotel about it. They should know that some of their customers are abusive to others and are bringing the hotel into disrepute. Maybe they will talk to them.

I wish we could all come and stare at them till they stop or go away.

I'm horrified that OP's son has been mocked, but it's good he has mostly been unaware of it

My initial thought was that the hotel probably couldn't help, but as PP have observed, you would report guests being loud, racist etc so I think it is worth reporting, in the hope that staff could move you to more private accommodation and / or refuse to serve abusive guests in the bar etc

I had no idea that it was common for people in Germany to terminate pregnancy in the event of disabilities. That puts a chill up my spine

In my experience the Portuguese and Spanish are thoughtfully kind in these circumstances and I’m not surprised that you’ve found the Portuguese staff to be helpful. You might find that they will stand up to these guests on your behalf.

I can't comment on that.

I often reflect that if these people had to endure a fraction of the difficulties these children do on a daily basis they would have nothing but admiration for them.

So, so true.

Germany is usually a lot more inclusive than the UK when it comes to disability so if you talk to those horrid Germans, tell them a fellow German in the UK tells them they are a disgrace, make me feel ashamed. They should really know better and are letting their country down massively. Nasty sh~~s! (if they are Austrian or Swiss, then same, just adding because not everyone people think is German is actually German)

No, they’re just placed into orphanages and “institutions”.

My SIL took someone to court over someone mocking my DN. Absolutely disgusting behaviour that ignorant woman would be getting a hug of cold water chucked over her.

I'm so sorry you are going through this,what horrible people to laugh at anyone let alone someone with a disability. Honestly they must have extremely shallow lives to feel the need to laugh at other people.
Just to note: these people also laugh at other's without a disability, just enjoy your holiday with your family

Thank goodness times are different now. I know the thalifamide children parents used to move they're children away from them if the carers took them out.

Op find some translation about it.
Hold it up...I don't know something like....

I'm sorry for you, picking on a child who has disabilities.

You are as ugly as your soul.
I pity you.

sounds beyond outrageous. if the hotel is all inclusive you could do worse than casually chucking a sticky drink over the worst offenders.

ableism seems inexplicably persistent set against the huge strides that have been made when it comes to homophobia & racism over my lifetime.

Et vous vous moquez d’un enfant handicapé? Vous me faites pitié. Quelle laideur. dans l’âme.

Fwiw op I had a very disabled family member.

Initially as I wa growing up in the 80s people would stare etc and make rude comment's.

Now I rarely hear the words associated with being disabled rarely and from people who are raw, lack education and emotional intelligence.

DH sister was one ( wealthy and supposedly educated).

I have a ds 15 with quite severe physical disabilities and I'm still shocked at how ignorant people are in the way they gawp like trout. It's crap, isn't it.
Chin up OP. There are lots of us out here that understand, hope you find nicer people for the rest of your holidays.

Maybe secretly tape them on your phone camera and post on u tube? Or just point your camera towards them? IF THEY CAN BE RUDE SO CAN YOU.

What the actual fucking fuck? OP, I'm so sorry you are dealing with these pieces of shit. You sound like an amazing mum, of course this is utterly unacceptable beyond belief. Speak to whoever you can, if it might help. Hope you have a brilliant holiday though with your son x