12:06pm May 2, 2013

➸ Blogging Against Disablism - Tube-ageddon

clatterbane:

And I couldn’t help but think about youneedacat. I really don’t understand the thought processes involved here. :/

The tube will be taped in place and within days, believe it or not, I’ll forget it’s there. 

However, the rest of the world will not. 

There’s something about tubes inserted in orifices that freak people right out. Ive spent time in wheelchairs, used walking sticks, held court in bed, but nothing says “pity the poor broken crip” like a tube. This is what will happen : I will walk into a shop/restaurant/school yard and EVERYONE will stare. Some will pretend not to, others will quite literally gawp, slack jawed, making no effort at all to hide their horror. 

Somehow the tube translates to non-tubies as “This person is dying.” I don’t know what it is, but almost everyone assumes you are beyond the reach of modern medicine. Somewhere, somehow, epic failure must have resulted in this incomprehensible, disgusting apparition. 

The first time I went out in public with a feeding tube, I remember sitting on a bench with my hubby and a friend in a shopping mall. Bored with the gawping and pitying looks, I started to slowly suck my cheeks in and slide off the seat. If they wanted dramatic, I could do dramatic. 

Another time, a guy rode his bike into a lamppost looking back over his shoulder at tube-a-geddon. That’s direct Karma, that is…

So dear world, It’s a tube. Get over it. My guts don’t work. It’s not all that complicated, or even all that serious. I’m not dying, I can breathe just fine and if I fancy a mojito and a Marlboro, I shall jolly well have them. 

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