Everyday Ableism: what is it and how to stop doing it.
Hoisting my backpack higher up my shoulder I meandered my way down the platform looking for my carriage.
“Carriage B, Carriage B,” I muttered to myself, ignoring the stares I knew I was already getting.
For my four hour train journey to Canberra I had decided to wear my little black dress. Not my going out little black dress, but my everyday, loose, hides all manner of spilt food and drink black dress. Train rides can be bumpy.
Finding my carriage I glanced back down the platform at all the people I had passed. Many were still staring at me. I pulled a face at them and dropped my backpack, dragging my phone out of my bag to check the time.
With twenty minutes still to go until boarding I leant on the pillar next to me and tapped on my phone. The stares I’d encountered still sat heavily in my mind. It is not that I am not used to being stared at. When you look different to other people being stared at becomes your uncomfortable normal.
As I became engrossed in a news story on my phone I became aware that a couple had stopped about a metre away from me. They were muttering together, heads bent towards each other, and one of the woman kept on looking at me.
Here we go.
