AITA for ‘going off’ on a mother in the toy store?

A Reddit user (28M) shared a story about taking his brother, who has a mental age of 7-8, to a toy store as a reward for his good behavior. The user described how they encountered a rude woman who told his brother to stop “flapping his hands” and move away from the Barbie section.

After the woman demanded his brother leave, the user responded by insulting her parenting, calling her a “grouchy hag.” The situation escalated, leaving the Reddit user questioning if they were in the wrong. Read the full story below.

‘ AITA for ‘going off’ on a mother in the toy store?’

I’m (28M) my brothers care taker (21M mental age 7-8), our parents decided at 18 to tell us to s**ew off, so when my brother (let’s call him Bill) turned 18 I grabbed him and enrolled him to get his GED since he didn’t finish highschool, and take care of him. His chores are too clean his room, help with laundry and set the table for supper.

I get paid by the state and you better believe I make sure his needs are met. He’s my little bud. At the end of the month for each day he does his chores he gets a sticker, at the end of the month that sticker gets counted as 5$ and he uses the money for whatever he wants. Like toys, special snacks etc. He loves this.

He’s been so good lately with chores I took him out for burgers and fries and took him to the toy store. My brother is big. Not fat, just tall and actually big boned (he’s healthy weight and overall health), he gets excited and stims by flapping his hands, you do you little dude. At the toystore he announced he wants Barbie’s, cool, no judgement, and we go look at barbies.

He’s stimming and rambling about what he wanted and meanwhile a lady and little girl come in the aisle. Not even two minutes pass and the lady tells us to go to another aisle, she wants to look at the dolls and his weird hand movements are freaking her out. I tell her to wait her turn.

Not even another minute passes and she tells my brother to knock it off and go look at something else. Now I’m pissed. I tell my brother to get what he wants and looked at her and told her, her daughter could use a better role model, I’d hate for her to turn into such a grouchy hag.

Took my brother out to pay for his barbies all while ignoring her telling me how much of an a**hole I am for saying that in front of her daughter.. AITA?

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

beckdawg19 −  NTA. If she was so freaked out, she could find a different aisle. She’s raising her child to consider people with disabilities as scary or abnormal, and that’s just s**tty parenting. Unless your brother was saying or doing something inappropriate, she had no right to ask him to leave.

Flaventia −  NTA You were a lot more polite than I would have been. Also, you sound like a wonderful brother!

leebee2302 − NTA King, I have so much respect for you. ou handle your brother’s care excellently, and also don’t buy into the whole gendered toys b**lshit and let him get what HE wants regardless. Keep doing you, and all the best to you and your bro.

DesiDiesel −  NTA, people should be more considerate of others… Kindness goes a long way. Good for you for taking care of your brother. Need more of this in our world.

Academic_Nobody_4964−NTA one bit, I suggest hero. I can’t even believe she acted that way since there were obvious indications of your brothers state.Regardless, it’s a public place, she has no authority to tell you where you can and cannotbe.

If her daughter is getting freaked out by noticing someone with a disability, it’s her mother’s job to inform her that you cannot be rude to someone or feel entitled just because you don’t like their hand gestures. I wish I was a bystander so I could’ve given you and your brother a round of applause. Bravo!

MiaouMiaou27 −  Mostly NTA, but you ceded a little bit of the high ground with the “hag” comment. Next time you have to put an ableist harasser in his/her place, try to do it without the unnecessarily gendered language.

KTB1962 −  NTA. You’re a freakin’ AWESOME brother!! You handled it perfectly, but I would’ve complained to the manager about the harassment you endured though.

the_real_pam_halpert −  As the mother of an adult stimmer – I think you were very contained… and I thank you for taking such good care of your brother, Twenty eight years of watching my girl be judged by strangers has made me very intolerant of ignorance…

And that leads me to be a little more forceful when pointing out their error of said strangers ways. At least they have a better story to tell later – the narrative changes from the stimming adult to her bat-s**t crazy mother!

Dizzy-Promise-1257 −  I literally made an account to say that not only are you NTA, but you sound like an absolutely amazing brother. I hope your bro is having the time of his life playing with those Barbies.

1Mandolo1 −  Throwaway acc, Mental age 7-8 but you got him to get his GED? Suuuuure. Fake.

Do you think the user’s reaction to the woman’s comment was justified, or was it too harsh? How would you handle a similar situation where someone criticized your sibling for their behavior? Share your thoughts below and join the conversation!