"You just need to get up out of your wheelchair"

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In the trans community, I saw somebody say this to someone who was disabled, and they went unchallenged. I thought the statement was entirely callous.

What can we do to combat ignorant statements like this?

Speak up and tell them to knock it off.

Did someone actually tell someone to get out of their wheelchair or were you speaking figurative?

I would be speechless because how can someone walk if their legs don't work?

They actually said the phrase to someone who was disabled.

Same here on the speechlessness.

A charismatic prayer healer? Benny Hinn? A delusional Christian having a psychotic fugue?

throw them in front of a f*****g moving train... brainless disrespectful zombies... aka the neurotypical public...

But was he/she in a wheelchair?

Surely they said it ironically?

People tell trans people they just need to get used to their body, people tell autistic people they just have to be more sociable. Maybe that person was parodying those comments.

(The irony of people saying that people with different neurologies need to die for disrespecting people who are different is a whole different kind of irony...)

Lots of people who use wheelchairs can walk short distances. It's just painful or tiring. Using the wheelchair means you free up your energy to actually live your life. And yeah, these people get told "you just need to get up out of your wheelchair".

As far as I could tell, it was not meant to be ironic. It was more the person talking down to the disabled person, in an ableist fashion. I've noticed that in the American trans community, ableism and classism run rampant, and there's little respect for intersectionality. With the way I've been having to deal with autistic and trans issues, I've been able to get little support. I find that sources outside the trans community tend to work better, though they're by no means perfect.

Don't remember. It could have just been figurative on the speaker's part. Nevertheless, I detect a strong "dog eats dog", disability-unfriendly attitude from it.

Right. That's where the spoon theory comes in.

I reckon the best way to combat this is with a baseball bat.
Break their knees, then tell them to get up and walk to the hospital.
"Show us how it's done!"

Wow. Sounds like a possible case of a transwoman who spent too much time living life as an upper class white guy. "Disability is *real*? It's not just moochers faking it for pity and welfare? OMG!"

You just described my situation before my amputation. I could walk, but I preferred my wheelchair because it was a less painful and faster way of getting around. I still use my chair when I don't have my prosthetic on.
I would be really pissed if someone said that to me!

[quote="beneficii"]In the trans community, I saw somebody say this to someone who was disabled, and they went unchallenged. I thought the statement was entirely callous.

What can we do to combat ignorant statements like this?[/quote]

I'm completely confused now. By trans did you mean transgender or is that short for something else? I'm asking because I don't understand what that's got to do with being rude to somebody in a wheelchair. Is it short for something to do with that? I'm not being ugly here, I'm seriously confused, because being rude is being rude no matter who you are. That shouldn't have been said at all in a mean context.