Wow...I think Donald tRump is making mocking handicaps OK.

[Hepburn]

I am hearing impaired and I do a bit of signing and I have a service dog. Today, my friend and I were made fun of and mocked by a woman in a restaurant where we went to dine. This kind of stuff just amazes me. My friend told her the dog was a service dog and to leave us alone. Did not stop her one bit! Did the whole tRump hand gesture stuff at me pretending to do ASL. I am shocked not only at her, but the people with her sat silently there while she did this and just stared at the table where they were seated.

I do have to say that about 99% of the people I see while out with my service dog -- both the public and employees of places where we go -- are absolutely wonderful. I have been able to interact with young children and show them what service dogs are all about while mine goes through her paces. I am lucky to have her and feel badly some feel that it is OK to mock a handicap and to try to interfere with a service dog while she was on duty.

[Mnemosyne]

1. I am so sorry you had to deal with such a jerk, Hepburn. My family made fun of my cane and

depression. I'm sorry.

Some people really are such nasty shits.

[Hepburn]

9. My friend who was with me walks with a cane.

Guess the lady who did not like service dogs and ASL being used thought the cane was OK.

My friend said we should have told her that unlike her, my service dog was both house broken and socialized! Guess that applies to tRump, too!

[whatthehey]

17. No trust me I use one due to hemiparesis and they do it to me too.

I don't think Trump started or even changed this though. The level of assholery has seemed pretty constant in the 5 years I've dealt with it; a small but noticeable ratio.

[Dustlawyer]

26. My daughter has a service dog and we get hit with ignorance of the law constantly.

Restaurants, hotels, places that SHOULD know better. In fact, we just settled her case against our local Mall security company who had one security officer who initially confronted my then 14 year old daughter and her grandfather about the dog. They had to explain the law to her and gave her a copy (we have to carry copies now). She and her grandfather would go walking in the mall for exercise every morning. This officer would then wait to see if my daughter walked off on her own to look around while he chatted with friends. Then she would pounce and loudly berate my daughter for the dog to embarrass her. After this happened twice we went to speak with the head of mall security. We left messages, notes and multiple copies of the law and never received a response. The security officer kept up the harassment until I took legal action. By the time the case settled the officer had moved on to another job. As part of the settlement the company agreed to conduct training regarding the ADA and service animals and issue an apology to my daughter.

I think an equally big problem with service animals aside from ignorance of the law is that many people are jealous that they cannot bring their own animals into public places and harass the managers of the establishments. The last peeve is something the OP mentioned is people assuming they can stop your animal and pet it or whatever without permission. This one is not near as bad as the others because at least they are animal lovers, just not considerate. If someone asks, we have never said no to a little love for "Pinky."

[Hepburn]

31. Boy, do I hear you!

I have been stopped by security guards who demand to know EVERYTHING about me and the dog. I had one grocery store manager -- large chain -- tell me that dogs were not allowed. He did not care if it was a service dog, my dog and I could leave. Fortunately, there was an off-duty cop right by where this was going on...and he told the idiot what the law was. Then the jerk manager said that he would take care of that problem -- he was going to post signs at the store that service dogs were not allowed! Color him STUPID!

Petting or trying to touch the service dog...kids are usually the worse about this. Granted my dog is very cute and I can see the attraction, but I am very pleased that most parents explain she she is a "working dog" and looking is OK, but touching is not. At times, when I can, I will try let the small children learn a bit about service dogs. I do this so that in the future they will understand that the dog is on duty and has special tasks.

Sorry about the BS your daughter got...IMO, mall and grocery shop security are the worse. All should know better, but somehow I think they believe that the ONLY service dogs are seeing-eye dogs and if one is not blind, one cannot have a service dog.

[Mnemosyne]

36. Your friend is very wise. nt

[spanone]

2. there are some real assholes here on this earth....

a guy like trump gives them hope... they are still assholes, just like him.

[CentralMass]

12. +1

[shenmue]

3. Hugs

[etherealtruth]

4. OMG, I am so very sorry you had to deal with such an ass

Trump has taken some of the stigma away from some very socially aberrant behavior .... most people are horrified .... but the people that applaud him are the ones emboldened to to act on their very antisocial (cruel, boorish , ass holish) behavior.

[KamaAina]

5. The OxyMoron beat him to it years ago.

He made fun of Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's on the air.

And these days, we say "disability".

[MissB]

6. Oh that's awful. I'm sorry no one else spoke up.

I'm glad it's become more socially unacceptable to do something like that. Clearly she hasn't joined the 21st century yet. I work for a large organization and something like that would result in a formal reprimand at the bare minimum.

[Daemonaquila]

7. What the hell?!?!?

I'm so sorry that happened.

You may be right - his behavior may be emboldening jerks even more. However, I don't think his idiocy was needed to give them permission. We have enough other bad examples from the right wing all the time.

[Hepburn]

8. IMO, tRump gives them permission to act as they do.

And to all who posted to me on this thread -- thank you. I came home in tears over how I was treated.

[lpbk2713]

10. Sounds like her companions might have realized how ignorant she is.

Ignorance like that usually lasts forever. I hope you enjoyed your meal regardless.

[Hepburn]

11. We got up and left before we ordered.

The "lady" -- and I use that term loosely -- was loud and obnoxious. I just wanted to leave. Home now eating Milky Way fun size bars! Dog got walked and given treats for her outstanding behavior. She did not flinch or move a muscle the entire time that harridan yelled at her.

[spanone]

13. your dog obviously has more manners/intelligence than the 'lady'

[Hepburn]

16. She's better looking, too!

Just had to add some snark!

[spanone]

20. inside and out!!!

i really can't imagine treating another human being like that.

[KamaAina]

14. Ableism is a real thing.

Right up there with racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.

Some of my adult friends who use wheelchairs report being patted on the head. John Edwards notoriously did this at a campaign stop in Rochester; he tried to ablesplain it away as a "Southern thing". When the Jerry Lewis telethon was still on, professionals who use wheelchairs were afraid to go to the office on Monday, because people would try to press change into their hands!

[packman]

15. I admire your patience

I do believe I would have created a scene - tell me, did you "sign" her with the four down and middle one up? Take it with a grain of salt, each human is born with an asshole but it is the rare ones that are given an extra one and show it to everyone.

[Hepburn]

18. Was tempted to give her the middle finger salute...

...but we just got up and walked out. From what my friend said, the loudmouth seemed very pleased at running us out of the restaurant. Just unbelievable. She said that dogs are filthy animals and she did not care if I had a service dog, she was not going to put up with that kind of filth where people eat meals. I did not hear all of this -- for the obvious reason -- but my pal gave me this information after we left.

[get the red out]

19. This is sick!

An adult behaving that way boggles my mind!

[renate]

21. people....

Some people, anyway.

[Android3.14]

22. That's just sad

I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I wonder if the lady had a mental health issue or something.

On a side note, I have a niece who uses her ASL professionally. Back in th previous election cycle, she had the honor of translating for the Clintons at an event. Even though I'm a Bernie supporter now and supported Obama back then, I was quite proud of my niece. Today she continues to use her skills to help the deaf community.

A few years ago I interviewed a young man who had a dog to detect his insulin levels. Super friendly and the animal knew he had a job. Thing is, the dog kept licking my hand and then sitting down by the young owner. The young man's mother said I should have a doctor check my sugar, which I did. Sure enough, I was prediabetic.

Service dogs are awesome.

[Hepburn]

29. My neighbor is diabetic and has problems keeping her insulin level OK

She has a small dog -- about 6 pounds -- who circles and barks if her sugar level is too high or too low. I have no clue how the dog does this...amazing to watch. Maybe it is the licking of the skin? Glad the dog caught your problem. Hope all is OK. My neighbor passed out a few times at night from her insulin level being out of wack and she lives alone. She has other health problems so this was dangerous in addition to the diabetic problems. Since the small wonder of a dog has been around, things have been much better.

Yes, service dogs are awesome. My wee lassie stops me in parking lots and pulls me to the side if there is traffic behind me. I cannot hear cars approaching from behind me. Same with those "beep-beep" carts in stores -- she stops me an pulls me to the side of an aisle. People wonder why someone who is hearing impaired has a dog in a restaurant or mall -- first, try crossing a parking lot when you cannot hear what is coming at you from behind! And in a mall...running youngsters approaching from the rear. Before the dog, I was knocked over twice by small children. No longer a problem.

Bravo on your niece! I have another friend who used to do ASL for church services. I am brushing up to hopefully get good enough to be certified for courtroom and other legal interpretation. With my legal background and with being hearing impaired, I understand what a problem it can be for a litigant to not understand what is going on in his/her case. I must use the headphones in most courtrooms in L.A. County -- and I am so thankful for them. The acoustics in most courtrooms are awful...even for those who are not impaired.

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. The entire Republican Shtick is making people feel comfortable with their bigotry.

"I think (Reagan) makes us comfortable with our prejudices." - Rosalynn Carter

[Dont call me Shirley]

24. I'm so sorry you were subjected to such trauma! That woman is a terrorizer and should have been

called such, on the spot. Put the shame on her where it originated from! She is a shame-shifter, so she doesn't need to feel her own deeply repressed shame she feels compelled to shift it onto others. I say give it right back to them the instant they spew it.

you deserve a good hug.

[gratuitous]

25. Squeaky wheel 'em, a little bit

You might want to write a little note to the management of the restaurant, detailing why you're not going to be patronizing their establishment anymore, as well as warning your friends and family that they should not eat there, either.

[sinkingfeeling]

27. I'm sorry for you and your friend. But Trump has brought these people out from under their rocks.

[AZ Progressive]

28. Shit, Trump might be rolling back time, reversing the progress that progressives have been doing...

for decades by making it ok to do all these bad things again.

[weissmam]

30. There are idiots everywhere

[Skittles]

32. aw, see, no, HELL no

I would have been IN HER FACE

[loyalsister]

33. People still shamelessly use disability and LGBT as punching bags for humor

I still come across it on DU on occassion.

To complete my thought.. I think that prevelance in popular culture and in entertainment is what makes Trump feel comfortable to mocking the reporter.

[whathehell]

34. Jeebus...Hard to imagine actual adults do this.

What ignorant trash.

[underpants]

35. I have to shake my head when I hear stories like this

I worked with the disabled and have heard stories about kids with disabilities being picked on in school. My wife and I are just amazed at this - it was unthinkable when we were involved school to do that.