Ow, my tushee hurts

No it doesn't. I was looking at the front half page of Sunday Times (Me reading newspapers, surprised huh? Notice i say front half page, which means i wasn't reading, just that the newspaper happen to catch my attention by lying on the floor), and notice an interesting gossip value headline. Someone who has a wife had commited suicide and nominated 30% his CPF fund to his girlfriend.

No comment on that article.

I picked up the newspaper, and the bottom half flipped into view and i saw Xiaxue's photograph. Thinking it might be related to the recent talk show, i flipped to the correct page and found out that it was talking about Xiaxue using disbled toilet*. Um... while she is still very abled that is.

Overall, the article is disapproving of Xiaxue's choice of toilet and quoted her comments to make her sound like a controversial young brat. Having shared a house with six other people in Gippy, one of them wheel chair bound, I can understand the outrage when one of the non-disabled housemates started using the disabled toilet. The house was one of the two houses of the sixty something houses that have disabled toilet in addition to the two usual toilets.

But the outrage is irrational.

Sure, common courtesy dictates that we should avoid using disabled toilet for want of luxury. But Xiaxue's choice of toilet is hardly evil or life threatening. Was it really neccessary to splash it onto the front page? I didn't want to risk offending my intellect by reading the rest of the paper to see if there are any other news worthy of making front page though. But c'mon journalists people, do not treat disabled people like they're handicapped. Do they want such attention? Do they want to be treated differently, 'special'? Sarong Party Girl has it right, please do not patronize them.

What's patronizing? Well, i don't know. Maybe it has something to do with the newspaper finding it appropriate to publish a quote that goes like, "Disabled people have poor bladder control.". Disregarding the absurdity of the claim, it is patronizing.

Patronize - To treat in a condescending manner.
Condescending - Displaying a patronizingly superior attitude.

What the hell, what kind of a stupid dictionary is that? But anyway, u get the idea of the meaning.

One concerned citizen was quoted as saying something like, "She should think about karma, she will one day grow old too"

Laughs.

Given my limited understanding of the karmic cycle, i assume that someone with bad karma would be reborn into a hard life and someone with good karma would be blessed with good future lives. So, is the concerned citizen anymore gracious/courteous than Xiaxue to avoid using dsiabled toilet, not because she finds it gracious/courteous, but because she wants a better future life. Don't pretend to be sympathetic if you're only concerned about your own karma.

Another quote, "What if everyone starts thinking like her and starts using disabled toilet?"

So... are people going to queue up outside the disabled toilet? How likely is such a scenario going to happen? That tens of people queue up at the disabled toilet refusing to go to the other toilet even if it is empty. And i'm sure they're all gonna to continue queueing up when someone wheels up in her chair.

And the thing is, my disabled housemate told me that she didn't mind any of us using the disabled toilet.

* Disabled toilet in my case is trying to indicate toilet for the disabled, not that the toiet is spoilt.