to feel uncomfortable being served by woman with tourettes that kept swearing at me?

[racmac]

I went to a well known high street store and was served by a lady who had tourettes. I have no problem with this or any of her ticks BUT she kept saying cunt and wanker - i dont use these words in front of my children so dont expect others to AIBU in expecting that she shouldnt be serving customers?

It was rather disconcerting to be told "thats £20.00 please, cunt, wanker"

Racmac

Ruby, Maybe just Maybe this Lady is not ashamed to be herself. She is as just as we all are entitled to work. If she feels comfortable in her work then why should it bother anyone else?

Disabled refers to what barriers have been placed in their way due to the physical environment: steps instead of ramps, no Braille menus in restaurants etc. It also refers to attitudes which perpetuate joblessness or non-inclusion.

If my 7 year old thought he could here an adult utter "forbidden" words he would be dragging me into M & S! His Dad takes him to football matches and they hear a lot worse than that, including racist language (DP and DS are not white). DS does not repeat what he has heard because he knows it is not generally acceptable.

If DS hears swearing (perhaps from teenage brother and sister/rap music etc) we say they are just words, a collection of letters strung together and it is the context that is important.

You cannot shield your children from swearing, racist, sexist language etc. Best equip them to deal with it and forget it.

FioFio talks sense as usual

As I said, I have Tourette's, as does my brother. He swears, I don't. I wink, make strange noises in my throat, shrug my shoulders and if things get really bad, flap my arm, sort of like a wing so I can hit my hip.

My brother and I are obviously such terrible people that we don't give a damn about the effect on other people, that's their issue! We certainly don't need anyone to pat us on the head with an obnoxious there there attitude and tell us maybe we should do things a little less stressful because I guess then we might not to look so..... different

Neither of us even thinks we have anything "wrong" with us. Hence the fact I've never even spoken about it till now!

There is a woman working at my local M & S with Tourettes - I don't think it is the same one as racmac, as her tic is the f word!

I was taken aback at first, and have talked to various friends over time about the issue, so it is interesting to see how many different points of view this thread has drawn.

I do have a recurring nightmare of my 82 year old, rather deaf Mum being served by her. I can see the repeat of 'Pardon'...F....Pardon...F' going on for quite some time!!

BTW, I am not a troll!!!

Hallelujiah- Summat speaks some of the finest sense on this thread.

And Fio of course

Can someone explain to me why they feel Tourette's Syndrome is a "disability"?

It is a neurological condition. Hardly a disability.

Let's imagine someone who is doubly incontinent, working in a sports center. Out of all the jobs available to this person, would you really insist that he be a swimming instructor?

Why, so everyone can feel he is equal with everyone else and hence the world is a better place, and nevermind the urine & feces in the pool?

Under UK anti-discrimination law all sorts of "conditions" would be covered. and I completely fail to see what relevance bodily functions have to this thread, other than to try and gross people out against those with disabilities.

doubly incontinent comes under health and safety obviously

Autism is a neurological condition and a disability.

Tourette's is diagnosed according to the DSM IV or ICD-10 - An employer would therefore have a pretty hard time arguing that it therefore isn't a disability if someone chose to throw the DDA at them.

What Total and JimJam said. The whole thread hinges on whether Tourette-induced swearing is regarded as a health and safety hazard at all.

As someone whose dc's have regularly been exposed to it, I struggle to see how it could be either a health or safety hazard. All you have to do is to take 2 minutes from your busy life to explain to your dc that the lady has a special condition which means she can't help saying those words; you haven't so you mustn't. Hasn't injured my health and safety in any way. Nor theirs.

And yes fio's right of course. Something like uncontrolled epilepsy is probably more of a barrier to becoming a swimming instructor tbh.

You can't get round the DDA unless there are health and safety issues. Because of the way it is diagnosed TS will be classed as a disability, and therefore if someone with the condition decides they want to work with the general public, then tough the general public will have to get over it.

under the social model tourettes (and anything else) is an impairment.
Its the barriers (physical and atiititudes) that are the 'disabling' factor.

As for swimming. My dd is doubly incontinent and goes swimming. We put a swim nappy on her. Problem solved.

'Let's imagine someone who is doubly incontinent, working in a sports center. Out of all the jobs available to this person, would you really insist that he be a swimming instructor?'

what a weird attitude. I woulnd't insist anything. Why would I. Its up to the mythical person what job he or she wants to apply for.

I guess that the fact that a few people on this thread have been served by shop assistants with tourettes might be an early sign of the DDA starting to take effect.

I can remember a time (shocking to think of it now) when major shops didn't have any non-white staff in 'customer-facing' positions. It was only when that started to change that their previous absence at checkouts etc really struck me.

The invisibility of people with disabilities is something that doesn't really strike home to most of us. I guess it is only when they start to become more visible in workplaces (if DDA works) that we will realise how bad it was before.

I was trying to show that employers would reasonably be expected to give people jobs that reflect their strengths and weaknesses.

Someone with MS will be moved to a job that does not demand physical exertion (as happened to a friend of mine).

Jimjam - I see the health & safety point so perhaps incontinent swimming instructor was not the best example.

When I referred to a "neurological condition rather than a disability", I had in mind a relative who has a condition that causes speech that is quite difficult to understand - not stuttering, but very rapid speech, disorganized words, and no real sentences. It might be called "cluttering" in English, I'm not sure.

Before this condition manifested itself, she had a job that required frequent telephone conversations with buyers/sellers. These days, she works in organisation/logistics, where most communication is by e-mail, and the rest face to face, where it is easier to understand her than by phone.

She doesn't live in the UK and nobody (including her) would think to argue that she should not have been moved to a different job once it became clear that phone communication was not her forte.

Fio - Do you think you can refrain from personal attacks? It adds nothing to the debate and is rather distracting. And frankly, I am not about to be "educated" by someone who thinks calling people "cunts and wankers" is a valid debate strategy and "ignorance" is a living being who is to be "educated".

Here's one for you. My local librarian is unable to read text on paper or computer screen (not on the work ones anyway, she might have a special setup at home)

I'd been assuming it was a recent problem. Maybe broken her glasses or lost contacts because no one in their right mind would employ a blind librarian.

However it's been some time now and in light of this thread I see now that unless she is a health and safety haxard she is entitled to work there.

I won't avoid her next time, but hand her my books and wait while she fumbles and looks for someone else to do the actual work for her.