All it feels like some days is that I get stared at, seeing people nudged each other and point not so subtlety at me as I walk past, or overlooked in the queue for the person behind me – again.

But then there is the flip side. The too helpful person? Come across one of those lately?

I was minding my own business in one of the cut price supermarkets. You know, the ones with the prices on a usually fluorescent background up a height above the shelves or at the back of racks hidden behind piles of produce or goods. I had one of those rare half an hours to myself, where food shopping, as a parent, is considered ‘me time’. Oh, the, joy.

So, there I was studying a multi-pack of travel wipes. I kept looking back and forth at the packet and price sign to see if they were actually antibacterial or not, when this lady comes up to me and tells me the price of them.

‘…er, thanks’, I said, a bit dumbstruck at first and then a smile with a realisation of what has just happened. My thinking overthinking of an everyday problem, antibacterial wipes or not, was misinterpreted to the outsider and looked like a disabled person problem.

In some ways I could be arsy and get all angsty about how the woman was presumptuous in assuming I was having access difficulties, but to be fair, if no one had been around and I couldn’t see the price of the blooming wipes, I would’ve been pretty peeved and been in a bad mood for the rest of the shopping trip. I had a warm fuzzy glow that I might have just been someone’s good deed of the day, and to be honest, gave me a giggle at the same time.

I realised though, that no matter where I am, what I’m doing or what even what I’m thinking about, there will that ‘don’t forget you’re little’ at any given moment. Sometimes these moments are damn horrible, other times annoying as you just wish to get on with your life, other times it can actually make you smile and realise not all unwanted attention is unkind.