Can we please have something done about the ableism and mask exemption hatred on here.

[HeIenaDove]

@MNHQ Its been running rampant on the AIBU and Coronavirus boards on here for months and is now starting to leak into Chat too.

Its getting ridiculous. There needs to be a zero tolerance with this as there is with racism. I got banned for a week last month for losing a rag and name calling but this was after months of this discrimination on here.

It needs to be treated in the same way racism is. Which is just as abhorrent But it isnt.

@esmethurst yes the one where thankfully the majority agreed the op's behaviour was down to shock and the one where you said this:

You didn't go and get your child when she was being screamed at?

You took your child to A&E for a tummy ache?

Nope. Not buying this. No one is that stupid.

Quite agree with Helena. If you claim not to have seen any then your either not looking properly or are one of the culprits trying to deflect. Try having a look at the thread that one poor person had put up . The poor woman had been horrifically raped and smothered but got piled on by some very nasty people. It had to stop. Now.

with regards to shopping this is what I think

fine if non masked customers come in to store....no,they don't have to 'stay at home'

but i am not fighting the non mask wearing battle for them.....when other customers get angry and confrontational about someone not wearing a mask i simply say 'some people are exempt' then if they want to take it further so be it,'m not fighting their corner for them we get enough abuse without this as well....following arrows, not touching, not trying on, queuing,low stock levels, short staffed etc etc .....non mask wearers will have to speak up for themselves if others persist

also....they need to stay further away from me . i will not be advising, looking at images of what they need on their phone, waking off down aisles to show them things or having a face to face conversation. non mask wearers need to realise they are coming into our space we have made as safe as possible for our 9 hour shift over 5 days a week......stay back is all i ask, back further than a metre, get what you need and go

i think thats fair

@9ofpentangles

Definitely stand by that. Taking a child to A&E because of a tummy ache? Stupid.

Although still not quite sure what a post about someone being at nursery has to do with mask wearing...

@GirlCrush

its not comparable to RACISM at all!!

Why not? Prejudice and hatred for something physical that the recipient of the hatred cannot change? There is some significant similarity there.

Whether comparable or not, there was a pretty abhorrent mentality on that thread

prejudice and hatred? no not at all.......people are in fear of their lives.

I don't think they are as much now. First time round, yes. Now not really. I work in retail too. A few got COVID in March- I'd say 5 or 6. All came back and made a complete recovery. Right now, we have had 2 off who are now back.

Don't get me wrong, I know the virus can be unpredictable and we shouldn't be complacent but I don't get the hysteria surrounding masks. The majority of customers are coming in with masks and there are too few without to worry about. What worries me is the sheer number coming in and thinking that masks mean no social distancing required and taking too long, blocking aisles and adding to the problem. There seems to be a fixation on mask wearing when it's known not to be the only form of protection

yes they don't understand it should still be no browsing....in,get what you need, out again

we've had more off isolating (no covid cases from store staff yet) since schools went back. 80 staffs always got a few off but also holidays. staff cancelled all hols back in the early days but now it all needs using so many are off

our customers are more fearful than our staff. we are constantly told we should be enforcing things!

[quote esmethurst]@9ofpentangles

Definitely stand by that. Taking a child to A&E because of a tummy ache? Stupid.

Although still not quite sure what a post about someone being at nursery has to do with mask wearing...[/quote]
My point is be kind

@GirlCrush I know. We get a few irate people. It's stressful

@9ofpentangles

And yet you questioned if I was blind because I hadn't seen 1 of the hundreds of threads on Mumsnet?

I literally said that I had never seen anything other than support on mumsnet for non mask wearers. Not sure why me not seeing something is such an issue?

That was Willow2017

Wow. They cant even have ONE supportive thread.

But thanks @MNHQ for being so quick with the delete button.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4057341--Support-thread-for-people-who-are-exempt-from-wearing-masks?pg=1

the problem is on that thread and others, that neither side of the argument is doing itself any favours.
The moral high ground is immediately lost when tit for tat insults are thrown around on both sides.
I'm not exempt. I'm not in the UK. I've been in a mask obligatorily since March 9th. I wouldn't go onto a "support for the exempt" thread to tell them off, but not would I expect to be told I'm a sheeple, expected not to respond to the false science spouted around mask use (because that's dangerous at worst if people really believe it) and talked about on other long running threads for wearing a muzzle and a face nappy.
It cuts both ways. (And you know I agree with you Helena on the bigger picture regarding the ableism and utter contempt for the elderly and vulnerable shown on here)

Seeing the title of this thread, can you also consider the disablism against the ECV, whose lives are put at risk by those who are not masked but who do not make other adjustments (such as refraining from activities, particularly indoors, where they cannot keep a minimum over 2m away from others)

Not all ECV are old, frail, or about to die.

Will you consider bstaring to delete posts which say that abut the ECV? Ditto that they shouldn't go out (so others do not have to modify their behaviour if/when maskless). It's hateful and inaccurate, and many conditions on the ECV list wouid clearly qualify under DDA.

@highlyflammablegreymatter

Having experienced plenty of ableism I definitely know how serious ableism is, but also how overlooked/minimised it is do people think it doesn't exist, that disabled people are exaggerating? Or do they think we deserve it? I don't know

I wonder about this often. Unfortunately I've decided that for me it is best to just stay home. But that wasn't an easy decision. My mental health suffers whatever I do, though.

@nether

Seeing the title of this thread, can you also consider the disablism against the ECV, whose lives are put at risk by those who are not masked but who do not make other adjustments (such as refraining from activities, particularly indoors, where they cannot keep a minimum over 2m away from others)

Not all ECV are old, frail, or about to die.

Will you consider bstaring to delete posts which say that abut the ECV? Ditto that they shouldn't go out (so others do not have to modify their behaviour if/when maskless). It's hateful and inaccurate, and many conditions on the ECV list wouid clearly qualify under DDA.

Very true. Like the comments from non mask wearers who say it's your fault if you need to be protected. The "how does my not wearing a mask affect you if you're that vulnerable you should stay at home" The hypocrisy is astonishing.

The law is an ass, here, however and almost designed to create a negative climate re non mask wearers.

How can you, at the same time, ask people to enforce mask wearing and allow people to self certify themselves as exempt?!

Imagine if you could award yourself a blue badge to use disabled car parking spaces and no one was allowed to ask for proof that you needed one? I suspect people would come to blows over the spaces.

I'm in favour of face coverings and I've been wearing them since around the start of lockdown but I wish they had not been made mandatory because I could forsee exactly this sort of shit happening.

So many people have become utterly, irrationally fixated on masks as if they are the One True Thing that is going to solve this and keep us all safe. They're not. Face coverings can help reduce the risk of transmission in indoor situations where people are unable to stay 2 metres apart. They're a helpful extra tool, that's all.

Masks alone will not save us.

We have to do all the other stuff as well. The people who have picked their nose and not washed their hands, or who have been to several parties in the last week, or who have been shagging around, or who have symptoms and have not ordered a test, or who have been told to isolate by test and trace but have gone out anyway ... all those people are still able to go in the shop or get on the bus because you can't see those things.

I was on a thread a couple of days ago where the OP was asking whether it mattered if she didn't respond to T&T. It was a short, civilised thread with several posters explaining that yes, actually it did matter a lot, interspersed with others who said they would not comply. There was none of this shit.

We still haven't got the basics right - test and trace is a shitshow and there is very little support in place for people who need to isolate. Sorting those things out would make a far bigger difference than making people wear lanyards or visors or telling them to stay at home for the forseeable future, just because they are unable to wear a face covering.

You can't dump all the responsibility for preventing infection onto the small number of people who cannot wear a mask because this massively disproportionately affects disabled people and the detriment to them is huge.

We need to stop talking about 'sides'. There are not distinct groups but rather a lot of overlap between those who can't wear masks, those who are ECV, those who have lost loved ones etc.

There is a group of people who have become extremely mistrustful about everything to do with this pandemic, including the mask mandate. You won't get them to comply by flaming them or calling them 'covidiots'. All you will do is drive them further towards the conspiracy theorists. In their minds you are simply proving them right.

There has been a lot of talk about this being a mental health pandemic as well as a viral pandemic. Sometimes that manifests as severe anxiety, stress, depression, loneliness, despair. Other times it can manifest as disordered thinking and paranoia. And there will of course be lots of overlap.

.

OP

Recently there was a thread about Ageism combined with

If it were racism it wouldn't be tolerated

Now you're here with a complaint and ableism it's

There needs to be a zero tolerance with this as there is with racism

Don't complain about whatever your "ism" is when you amongst others can't manage to say anything without slyly referring to non-Whites getting it easy.

Racism is as rife as it ever was. Since MN stood out against it a few months back it's gone back to the disengenous bullshit 'WHY is cultural appropriation bad' and 'WHY are Golliwogs bad', cue racists rushing to defend racist imagery and stereotyping, any protest is dismissed as PC gone mad by 'wolk folk'.

Good luck with your "ism" whilst dismissing another "ism"

No one who looks at social media or watches the news will be unaware that there IS a small but noisy cohort who have a political objection to wearing a mask

It's not really a small but noisy cohort - There's a huge Facebook group called 'Save Our Rights' where members go into shops/public buildings and challenge shop workers when politely asked if they can wear a face covering. Boasts about making staff cry, teaching little Hitlers a lesson, all sorts. They take smiling selfies in the stores too. Cue lots of virtual back-slapping.

Obviously they're not exempt so they won't reply that they are. I wear a face covering and although I don't disagree with all their points, seems to me it's stupid for people to fight amongst themselves. & out of order to seek out confrontation. Front line staff are just doing their job yet they're being shouted at and harassed.

There's a new thing now 'Nope, wont hand-sanitize as it gives you cancer'. The 'covidiots, sheeple, face-nappy wearers' comments are just naff.

However I've not seen much of it on MN, just plenty elsewhere. Pointless, all of it. Schadenfreude and divisiveness are a blight here, that seems to be the new normal