Queensland mother Tori Brooks was at her local shopping centre in Caneland when her four-year-old son, Travis, experienced a minor epileptic fit.
According to The Courier-Mail, Travis has been diagnosed with controllable epilepsy and global development delay.
This particular fit left Travis drooling a little, so his mum took him to a kids’ bathroom in the centre to clean him up.
However, as she walked into the bathroom with Travis, Brooks was approached by another shopper, whose words reduced her to tears.
“As I walked in the door I was confronted by another mother who saw him and said, ‘Children like that are the reason why euthanasia should be legalised in this country’,” Brooks told The Courier-Mail.
“It hit me hard and I didn’t have it in me to say anything back at the time but I was left in tears – like you just told me my son should be dead or that I should kill my child because he has this condition.
“And I’m fully aware that the sight of someone mid-seizure can be confronting; but special needs people, adults and children alike, no matter how small or great their disability, deserve to live happily and be equally accepted in the community, just like anyone else.”
And Mother & Baby editor Erin Mayo wholeheartedly agrees.
“Mums of children with special needs should be commended,” she says.
“The challenges of being a parent are hard enough, even for those parents of children without special needs. No mum deserves to be mum-shamed like that.”
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