Thread by @chronicfab

Me: *Sitting in a food court, minding my own business*

Random white woman: "You should be ASHAMED!"

Me: *Sighs* "Fine. I'll bite. Why?"

Her: "You can't not know how bad plastic straws are!" *Pointing accusationally at my can of Sugar-free V with a pink plastic straw*

Me: *Commencing well-rehearsed response* "Plastic straws make up less than 0.025% of ocean plastic. That phone in your hand does FAR more harm than my MEDICALLY NECESSARY plastic straw. The straw ban mvmt is a farce based on zero evidenceand it's harming disabled ppl."

Her: *Clearly wasn't expecting an informed response to her random act of ableist harassment* "Don't be ridiculous! No one NEEDS plastic straws!"

Me: "Not that it's any of your damn business, but I do and I know dozens of other disabled folks who do, too."

Me: "You're harassing disabled ppl over 0.025% of ocean plastic. Now, you're gunna leave me the fuck alone and I'm gunna eat & drink in peace." *Takes drink thru straw*

Her: *Picking up her stuff to move to another table* "Your generation has no respect! No respect at all!"

Me: "Respect is earned. Basic human dignity is what you failed to afford me." (And I may be a little too proud of that response and how well it landed 🤣)

Rarely do encounters like this go so well for me. And holy shit, wtaf, lady?? 🙄

Like, admittedly, I'll be in a good mood all day cuz of how good it felt to verbally smack her down, especially when she started the whole thing. But I'd really like to not have to feel anxious about using straws in public. It's an absurd situation to be in, at all.

I should also clarify that yes, my disabilities are very much visible, today. She was fully aware that she was addressing a disabled person.