UK Disability Resource of Disabled Needs

Been to see my grand-son in hsopital today, we only get there once a week as Sarah wants to go and driving in Leeds is horrible, each time I go I get lost even though I have a sat nav, can find my way back fine though lol.

Anyway instead of sitting in the ward we decided to go across to Eckersley House to have a coffee in the lounge, its a lovely building in the hospital grounds that the parents of sick children can stay in, there are 15 flats, the lounge is big and good and the kitchen is to die for! There is a playroom with every toy imagainable in as well.

We made a coffee and Sarah, jess and Kayden went off to play and I sat there chatting to Gemma, my son and my Mum when in came some muslim people, they told us to get out as they wanted to pray! Now I am not racist at all and I respect their religion as i hope they would respect mine but its a communal lounge, we were sat there enjoying a chat, the kids were playing lovely so I told them no they would have to find elsewhere to pray as it was too cold to take the children and wait outside, well they started huffing and puffing and jabbering on whilst glaring at us hoping we would move but still I refused, in the end they said f**k off and went! I went and told the housekeeper what had happened and she agreed with us, she said they have 4 flats at the house and they are all using them as one child was in the hsopital and they had had complaints already. There wasnt even decorations up incase they offended them!

PC gone mad or what? I believe they have prayer rooms in the main hsopital so why didnt they use a designated area?

Do you think I was out of order? usually I am so meek and mild but I must have PMT as I just flipped

Jane x

I must admit to be rather fed up with all this PC stuff myself and I agree with you Jane.

If they already have somewhere to pray then they should have used it and not expect people to move out into the cold so they can take over the room you are using.

Afterall your grandson is also sick and in the hospital so you have just as much right to be there as they do.

What terrible language to use too.

I really don't blame you for being annoyed and upset and I think I wouldn't have been as calm as you sound like you were. I do hate confrontation though but that situation would have been too much for me.

So as far as I'm concerned you were not out of order at all.

I hope your grandson is home soon Jane and the whole family get to enjoy the festive season all together. xx

Hi Jane

I am with you. We all need to be tolerant of others but if there is already a designated space then that is where they should use.

It seems that if the common room is not decorated then it is for everyone to use and therefore at no time should anyone person (exept in extreme circumstances) be expected to have sole use of it.

I want to say well done for standing up for you and your family but I don't want to sound militant - just - you did the right thing.

They should put christmas decorations up in there and scatter a few teddies round too

You where dead right to stand your ground! well done.

grrrr.. all this pc stuff makes me so mad

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Don't see what was wrong with one of the flats they were using to pray in.

I'm hearing this stuff more and more now and like most people i'm sick of it. Yes we need to accommodate the needs of others from other countries but it doesnt stop there, we are LOOSING our culture and our own rights and if we complain we are in the wrong.

No wonder English people are leaving the UK at the same rate as people from other countries move in. Give it 10 years and England will be dead as far as the English are concerened.

I read in a survey recently that by 2010 there will be a minimum of 60% of ethnic minorities in this country who are not 1st or 2nd generation british....

Also when my children came home from school this year - they told me more about other cultures than our own.

It makes me very sad - I am not racist and do not have any grievance against any individual but how are we supposed to deal with the consequences in the differences it makes to our children when people who come in and give us no choice but to change things to suit their religious needs - when the only needs that are a real priority are the needs of ALL the children who attend a place for respite or medical care to help in their disabilities.
How far are we supposed to bow to their needs and are not the needs of a british resident disabled or not important anymore?...
I know its difficult because everyone should be treated as an equal - BUT by not providing the care and attention to british born children, that they are used to (everyone knows a childs routine when disabled or special needs, is very important and their security ie familiarity of decorations and comforting items around them is essential for their wellbeing and care) surely this is an injustice to them and their families to deprive them totally because of another culture.... Can we not find an amiable compromise? why should one of either parties have to bow down completely to the other's needs - souldnt there be an equal compromise to suit both cultures???/