‘Shut That Child Up’ — Insensitive Plane Passenger Tells Mother of Disabled Girl, Mother Shames Woman In Viral Facebook Post

Nicola Colenso, mother of an 8-year-old girl with special needs, shamed an abusive passenger on Facebook who told her to “shut that child up,” the Daily Mail is reporting. The woman, said to be in her mid-20s, also turned her wrath to Ms. Colenso’s partner, calling him a “p****” for not telling the girl to shut up.

The girl, Yasmin, suffers from Sturge-Weber syndrome, a neurological disorder caused by too many capillaries close to the surface of the skin. It is characterized by a port-wine stain on the scalp, forehead, or around the eyes. Its side effects include recurring seizures and severe headaches.

Colenso’s daughter had suffered a meltdown on the plane, and matters were made worse on the Jet2 flight travelling from Ibiza to the UK when the tactless female passenger complained that Yasmin was disturbing her sleep.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154566611458949&set=a.10150250526938949.375005.593623948&type=3&permPage=1

In a Facebook post that has since garnered thousands of likes across the world, Nicola Colenso said she tried to politely explain what was happening to her daughter to the irritated woman.

According to Colenso, the woman who was travelling alone, at that moment lost her cool and shouted “will you shut that child up?” Rick Murray, Colenso’s partner had apologized again to the woman, who responded that the clatter “had gone on long enough and I’m sick of it.”

In the post, Nicola said the woman had called Murray a “p***y” in front of the children, after the woman insinuated that she could do a better job at keeping Yasmin quiet and Murray had told to feel free to try.

“If you feel you can do a better job at keeping her calm than us feel free to try.”

Nicola had blasted the woman in her post.

“Your behavior and outburst was not helpful whatsoever in helping to calm down our daughter’s anxiety. I hope social media helps find you to let you know that same little eight-year-old girl ended up being taken to hospital by ambulance that evening as she became seriously unwell. Maybe you managed to get a good night’s sleep?”

Nicola Colenso’s social media post included the picture of the woman supposedly involved in the airborne row. It has been shared by thousands of people, with almost all of them criticizing the woman for her selfishness and ignorance.
Ti Rexy left a comment on Facebook lambasting the woman.

“I hate it when people act like this. They seem to have forgotten they were once a child too. How on earth does she expect children to sit and be perfect, shut inside a tin can when she can’t do it herself as a grown up?”

The mother-of-4 insisted that she did not get into a shouting match with the woman or alert the airline authorities, adding that they did not want to compound Yasmin’s situation, but admitted she had to take a picture of her because she was shocked that someone could be so cold.

Nicola said later that night at home, her daughter’s lips had turned blue and she went limp and lifeless. Yasmin had to be rushed to the hospital. According to her mother, her 8-year-old daughter had not been to a hospital since 2013.

Pioneering family's bid to help little Yasmin: KINGSMEAD mum-of-four Nicola Colenso has organised the first na… http://t.co/VY5cWrzlbO

— Northwich Guardian (@NorthwichNews) May 9, 2013

Ricky, Nicola, and their children; Benji, 17; Harvey, 13; Yasmin, 8; and Alfie, 8; had been holidaying in Ibiza for over 11 days with Colenso’s parents. Yasmin had been given the all clear to fly by her doctor, and Ricky and Nicola had told the airline staff about her condition which includes autism, glaucoma, and epilepsy.

The worried mother said the two hour and 20 minute flight from Ibiza back to the UK was a noisy one with plenty of turbulence and was most likely responsible for her daughter’s distress. Colenso said they had all booked the last seats at the back on the plane on purpose to help her stay calm.

In 2013, Yasmin underwent a nine-hour brain surgery operation to separate her temporal, occipital, and parietal lobes. The aim was to reduce the number of seizures she was suffering every day. Her mother says she used to suffer over 200 daily, but it has now been whittled down to a dozen, and most of them occur at night.

[Photo by ThinkStock]