M’sian Mum of Child with Cerebral Palsy Told by Man to Distance Her Kid for Fear of “Infecting” Others

There are many people out there who have conditions that they were born with. Most of the time, it’s something that is not contagious, such as Down syndrome or cerebral palsy.

However, there are still many people out there who believe that these kinds of conditions can “spread.”

A Malaysian mother recently shared a story of how she was asked to distance her child from others as her child has cerebral palsy.

Norzalinda Hamzah, a teacher from Johor posted about her experience on Facebook when she brought her child, Alisha who has cerebral palsy (CP) to a government hospital.

Usually, Norzalinda will bring Alisha to a CP clinic in the afternoon, but ever since the doctor moved somewhere else, the clinic was no more. So the mother and daughter duo had to go back to the hospital for routine checkups.

It turns out that the paediatric clinic is also the same place for pregnant women to do their checkups. So after registering Alisha, the teacher sat to rest for a while as she has had a hectic morning.

When she was taking a breather, a man in his 30s came to talk to her.

“Hey you, can you distance your kid from this place?”

Norzalinda looked at them and thought that maybe Alisha had soiled herself, but after checking, it was all clean. She was puzzled, so she asked the man and his wife why she should do so.

The man said,

“These are all pregnant women, you bring your child like this here, do you know that she will infect our children?”

The teacher was taken aback but she did not stand back in this battle, instead, she answered:

“Don’t worry, you will never get a child like this because you’re not as wonderful as me. Only wonderful people get children like this. You? Weak.”

She then ignored them and played with her phone until they left. She ended her Facebook post by saying that it is already 2022 but there are still people who believe that CP is contagious.

“I was thinking for quite a while, what is so wrong about my child that we can’t even go to the hospital? Does this person think that going to the hospital is fun?”

Many netizens expressed their support for the mother-daughter duo.

“The man shouldn’t be sitting at the mother and children bench, he should have been outside.”

“I like your answer. Awesome!”

“You’re amazing and your child is lucky to have you as her mother. I hope that all goes well for you.”

According to CerebralPalsy.org, CP is considered a neurological disorder that affects body movement and muscle coordination. It is not contagious at all. 

Nobody deserves to be discriminated against. It is very unfortunate that Norzalinda and Alisha had to come face-to-face with such an individual.

Also read: “Look ma, robot leg” – M’sian Shares How A Mum Apologised After Child Pointed at His Prosthetic Leg