This week’s column on Mommyish is sort of a sister column (or maybe a cousin column) to last week’s article about moms and “old people.” Except instead of moms bitching about how old people ruin everything, they’re complaining about needing special treatment and/or wanting pregnancy and motherhood to be treated as a disability. The article was inspired by an article that ran on the Huffington Post last week called, “Pregnancy As Disability: Professor Wants Coverage Under American With Disabilities Act,” which is worth reading so you can form your own opinion on the matter. Basically, a law professor is suggesting that “pregnant women experience symptoms that may warrant special treatment accommodations from their employers and that pregnancy should be covered by the American Disabilities Act (ADA).” 

Let me preface the rest of this post by saying that I believe the professor’s interests lie mainly in protecting women from their shitty employers, and I can understand why she’s pushing for the legislation. But because I run this blog, and I’ve seen what I’ve seen, I also happen to believe there are many women out there who could potentially abuse the idea of pregnancy as disability. We’ve already had discussions about expectant and new mother parking and parking lots “over-accommodating” for disabled drivers (plus moms who opt to park in handicap spaces anyway), and today I’d like to share a few more examples of women who believe their “disability” (being pregnant or being a mom) warrants extra special treatment in bathrooms and parking lots.

Bathrooms

Emily’s complaining about not wanting to wait in line to use the large handicap restroom stall, but unfortunately, that’s the deal. Yes, it sucks that some restrooms only have the changing table in the large stall, but even when that’s the case, all it takes is simply waiting your turn in order to get in there and do your “spacious” business. Spread out and have a picnic if you want to once you’re in there, but until you are, realize that the person using that stall, A) does not have to be handicapped, and B) may very well be handicapped but not in an obviously noticeable way.

Also recognize that having a large stroller does not make you “more eligible” for a handicap stall than other people who do not have a disability. Having a large stroller may allow you to push through crowds easily and take up entire sidewalks, but it does not, in fact, allow you to ram your way into the largest stall in the bathroom if it is already occupied. Sorry.

Parking Lots

Jordan is “just saying” that not only should pregnant women and people with small children get preferential parking, but ALSO that she’d be down to go head-to-head with some of these so-called “handicap parkers” to prove that it is far more annoying to have to walk a few extra feet to the door at the grocery store when you’re pregnant than it is when you’re disabled.

I mean, hello, most disabled people are disabled for their whole lives. That means they’re used to struggling to get in and out of places. Jordan is only going to be pregnant and have small children for like seven years, so for her it is an enormous burden. Don’t people “get” that? Don’t grocery stores realize that pregnant women and moms are their most preferred clientele?! If they don’t, they should! Especially since, like Stacey said, some “handicap” parkers even wear high heels. Show me a true disabled person who can wear high heels! I mean seriously, people! It’s like no one even thinks about mothers anymore.

Y’all know how karma works, right? Bad karma? People’s rudeness is really going to catch up to them one of these days! It’s a sad, sad world we live in when someone carelessly asks to cut in line at the store as you tend to your crying baby (guh! the nerve!) and THEN you walk outside and some pimple-faced trollop has parked her car in the parking space dedicated to MOTHERS even though she has NO CHILDREN. Someone should tell these people that there’s this thing called “empathy” they should look into. It seems only parents can understand the true meaning of that word. 

Don’t forget to check out my column on Mommyish for even more (and I mean WAY more) on this subject, including an email sent to me by a reader who had a run-in with a crazy lady in the restroom at a Buffalo Wild Wings!

(submitted by Anonymous)