A Mom Refused To Give Her Son's Bus Seat To An Old Lady & The 'Invisible' Struggle Is Real

It’s a standard practice to give up a seat on public transit for the elderly and disabled, but how do you explain a disability that you can't immediately see?

That was a dilemma that one mom faced on a bus with her teenaged son, when another woman demanded that her boy give up his seat for an elderly woman.

The mom says the other woman called her an “entitled b*tch” for not making her son give up his seat, even though he was also experiencing a health issue at the time. Now she’s turning to the popular Reddit community AmItheA**hole (AITA) to share her side of the story and ask the world “AITA for not letting an elderly woman have my son’s seat on the bus?”

She explained that her son has weekly therapy appointments, and a scheduling issue meant they had to take the bus on one occasion.

“It wasn’t ideal, but I’d rather the bus than miss an appointment,” explained the mom.

The mom didn’t go into details about why her son needs therapy to protect his privacy but shared that “he will often forget to eat,” which is key information in this story.

“I usually make sure he’s fed, but due to the mess in the morning, it slipped my mind,” wrote the mom.

When she got on the bus with her son, all the seats were occupied.

“My son wasn’t doing too well, and I could tell he was feeling dizzy from hunger+the bus. So the second someone got off their seat, I sat him down,” explained the mom. “I then tried to find a chocolate bar I had in my bag.”

It was at that moment that an elderly woman and her daughter got on the bus.

The daughter eventually tapped the original poster’s shoulder and asked if her son could give up his seat for her elderly mother.

“I felt really bad, I really did, but my son was not doing great, and standing would make it harder. I had found the chocolate, and he was eating it slowly, but if he stood up right then, I can assure you he would’ve fainted,” read her post. “I apologized to her and explained that my son wasn’t feeling well.”

Instead of being understanding, the woman instead just “rolled her eyes,” complained that he was a “young healthy teenage boy” and insisted that “he’ll be fine.”

“I apologized once again and told her that he wasn’t feeling well and that if he was then HE himself would’ve offered her a seat,” the mom wrote.

After trying one more time, the woman eventually gave up and got angry about the whole situation.

“I then heard them both whispering and calling me an entitled bitch,” the mom wrote.

Not only that, but another passenger also took a parting shot when they got off the bus. The passenger told her that "a teenage boy can handle standing more than an elderly woman can and that she hopes someone treats me like that when I’m her age.”

“My son was so out of it, I don’t think he even noticed or cared, but I can’t get this off my mind. AITA?” asked the mom.

The Reddit community concluded that the mom was not in the wrong here, with many coming to her defence.

One user wrote, “NTA. (not the a**hole) You handled it the same way I would have, politely explaining that your son wasn't feeling well and needed to sit.”

“I’m sure there were many other people they could have asked and many other people that could have offered, so I'm not sure why they felt the need to pick on you and your son,” continued the comment.

The mom came back and commented: “I’ll be fair and say that of all the people on the bus, my son was the youngest, so I suppose I understand the thinking. Everyone else sitting on the seats were elderly or women.”

However, people still defended the mom and insisted that refusing the request was not the wrong move.

“It totally makes sense that they asked, but they should have accepted your answer. Your son legitimately needed the seat, despite being young,” wrote one user. “This is a frustrating scenario people with invisible disabilities often face. NTA. I’m sorry this happened, and I hope the appointment went well.”

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.