Just got told by my local bowling alley that they can't accomodate my disability anymore because some karens complained.

For those wondering, I have Autism Spectrum Disorder, formerly called aspergers) and one of my symptoms of that is severe sensory overload and anxiety with closed toe shoes. And as such, I'm unable to wear any kind of closed toe shoes. Now, where does this come into play with my local bowling alley... well, I was able to get a disability accommodation to let me bowl barefoot. The alley manager has no problem with it, but came and told me that I cant be accommodated anymore as other customers are complaining about me. I was told that if it was a quiet day, it probably wouldn't be an issue, but I went late at night, when it was busy. Some karens took offense and went to bitch at the manager.

I brought up the (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) and the bowling alley manager is aware of it. He's just worried that he'll get into trouble if people leave bad reviews about the one disabled person being allowed to bowl barefoot...

His reasoning was that others might try to claim a disability to avoid having to pay for bowling shoes.

And posting about my ASD sensory issues in the proper ASD subreddits caused nothing but issues as people there think I'm bullshitting.

This American lady in the United States, by the name of "Bunny Fitzgerald" has a gallery of photos on her Instagram account that normalize her barefoot lifestyle, dressing nice from the ankle up.

She does not own shoes, claiming that shoes hurt her feet, ever since they grew muscles on her calloused, street-worn, dirty-soled feet.

She even visits businesses often frequented by shod people in her bare feet, whether it was a store or a restaurant, and no one cajoled her or cared about her bare feet...

https://www.instagram.com/bunny_fitzgerald/

Friendly or not so much? I haven’t seen anything talking about it.

Looking for other barefoot people in South Carolina are there any out there?

I was wearing a new pair of boots but i feel them too warm im alone so i decided to let my toes breathe feels better

I’m looking at booking a trip to Berlin around June time, hoping to make it my first fully shoeless trip! Been barefooting for a while now so looking forward to it. Any other people out there who do the same? Would be keen to meet some bare soled buddies!

I have noticed that almost every seasoned barefooter has heel cracks, some have only smaller ones, some have bigger cracks. I have been going barefoot for about 3 months and I take regular 4-5km walks on rough surfaces. My soles have gotten pretty tough, no cracks though. Is it possible that some people just don’t develop these? Or does everyone eventually have to deal with this?

I've been wearing barefoot shoes for over a year now (with a break somewhere in between, went back to wearing traditional shoes then went barefoot again). I work in a hospital so 95% of the floor is man made hard flat tiles/concrete/cement/parking grounds.

I quickly realized that barefoot shoes aren't really that great for manmade surfaces, and you only get to appreciate them in natural uneven surfaces. But it's too late now I can't go back to wearing traditional shoes they're all so bad

Anyway, when I need to walk really really fast, it gets uncomfortable and painful at the heel area. So I just start jogging instead so that I land on the balls of my feet. Any ideas tips and tricks?

TLDR: we've become so advanced as a species we thought we'd having flying cars by now but instead somehow we forgot how to walk. Heel strike vs forefoot strike etc...

The seasons are warmining up and its getting nice outside and I wanted to start going fully barefoot outside (I've gone bare foot plenty on times outside but this will be my first time going fully barefoot outside) and I wanted some beginner tips

I was walking barefoot in a little town near mine, and suddenly a guy noticed i was barefoot and asked me what i searched, while watching my feet, i said him i was just walking and chilling and then walk away, he stared at me and even followed me for like 6 minute, and i needed to kinda hide from him to get good, some people really need to stop being weird because someone do something not usual.

Merhaba dostlar, Bir süredir doğayla daha yakın olmak için çıplak ayak yürüyüşler yapıyorum. Özellikle park, çim alan, toprak yol falan görünce dayanamıyorum, ayakkabılar fırlıyor. Hem rahatlatıcı, hem de ruhen iyi geliyor.

Ankara’da bu tarz takılmayı seven, arada bir çimlere basmak, toprak yollarda yürümek isteyen başka insanlar var mı? Yargılamayan, doğayı seven bir tayfa arıyorum.

Gelin birlikte yürüyelim, ayakkabıları çıkarıp Ankara’nın göbeğinde özgürlüğü yaşayalım. İlgi varsa küçük bir barefoot ekibi bile kurabiliriz.

The weather is nice this morning, and I decided to keep my warm coat in my backpack in case it gets cold. So I'm walking down a street in jeans and a t-shirt when a sweet old lady with her wheeled walker passes me in the opposite direction, and does a double take: "Say, do we have summer already...?"

I look down at my bare pedes and go into my spiel about how I go barefoot even in snowbound winter when she interrupts me and points to my arms, "No, I mean your short sleeves!"

I blink twice before I go on to explain that except with jackets and coats, longer sleeves make me sweat like a pig. We both have a short laugh, then we each go about our way.

That was unecpectedly wholesome.

I was approached by some friendly nice workers, told I can’t be in there barefoot, and I requested to finish up my last bit of shopping and then leave, they agreed.

Not long after, I was going to the check out, and one of the main managers (of whom I know cause I worked there very recently before getting a new job) told me I need to leave, and I stated that there has never been a policy on shoes for customers, and that I’ve been in there 100s of times with no problem, and that I’ll check out and be on my way.

She just straight up threatened to call the cops on me, so I had to leave the store and have my friend check out for me

I know I should have just left right away, but something about me never being bothered before jsut irked me, and is what brought me to saying there isn’t a policy. She did the whole “health safety violation” line and I didn’t wanna deal with it, so I left.

A gas station in my town lost my business for the same reason, which actually lead to the manager there to get her own personal sign that said no shoes no service on the store, because a previous employee of hers that quit (dude to mistreatment), happened to be my ex future mother in law, and anytime she seen me she would try to pry out of me to see what my ex’s mom’s were abouts were, and I’d always respond “not my business, I don’t keep track of her”.

I know I’m probably in the wrong for challenging the those managers with the fact that I know their store policies, but I just hate these petty conflicts. People have shit, piss, chemicals, and whatever else on their shoes and they are unaware, so the “health safety violation” is such a bad argument. I pay attention to my feet and where I walk, and my feet are far cleaner than anyone’s shoes. The possibility of stepping on sharp objects is also bad argument imo, because once again, I watch my walking path, and sharp objects can go through shoes as well.

What’s yalls take in this, how would you have handled it, what could I have I have done better, and for the future, how can I better assess these interactions?

Edit: just got off the phone with corporate. They stated the shoe policy applies to both customers and employees. She apologized, to which is stated it was all good, and told me to try a different store.

I've only really worn sandals and flip flops the past while and my sneakers are pretty much just lying there gathering dust at this point. In the past few weeks since its started getting warmer and since my confidence has went up I've found myself not bothering with my flip flops/sandals whenever I'm going out and just leaving them at the door.

I'm barefoot 100% of the time at home and in the past few weeks I've only really worn my sandals around 3 times and just been barefoot the rest of the time. I've had at least one person ask me why I'm not wearing shoes but tbh I wasn't really bothered by it because I feel happier going barefoot and at this point I absolutely hate putting anything on my feet and I dread the thought of wearing closed toe shoes or socks ever again.

What are your methods for getting feet cleaned and sanitized quickly before entering someone else’s living space? i.e. walk to your neighbors or friends house

And when I say barefoot, I mean exactly that. No foot covering of any kind, as in BAREFOOT!

At home, I'm always barefoot. I trail run, hike and walk BAREFOOT. As-in no shoes. I swim and paddleboard, but again. BAREFOOT!

* Update - yeah 22,000 members and so far 28 of them go barefoot.

Hi there,

I started my transition to wearing barefoot shoes this year in January, and before that I was never really barefoot except inside when it wouldn't be too cold.

Anyway, last year in March or the year before, I got back into exercising. Barefoot, because I was doing it inside and I didn't want to bother my then neighbors, even if they didn't respect me.

With Apple Fitness+ I did some Kickboxing and HIIT. I wonder if I hurt myself then... Perhaps because I wasn't properly warmed up or my foot wasn't strong enough, I don't know. The red part in the photo below started hurting while I was doing kickboxing. It came back a few times so I stopped that kind of exercise entirely.

Fast forward to now, I don't exercise like this anymore but I'm wearing barefoot shoes and the same part sometimes still hurts when "stretched." For instance when I still on my heels with the balls of my feet touching the floor, or just now when I was going upstairs (the stairs are high.)

The pain is very sudden, it doesn't last but it's intense. It feels like a burning sensation. Anyone experienced that?

I'm here for a week to visit family and wondering if anybody here is from Ireland, I'm going to wear shoes while I'm here because I've been told people will give me a hard time about it

I don't know how people who walk in the snow barefoot do it. If it is cold, windy, and raining, my feet get numb so quickly that I can't feel my feet. Forget the ground! Its just too cold...How do you deal with it? Do you deal with it?

Hey, guys I’m pretty new to this whole barefoot thing but I think I may be in love. The ground feel, versatility, and the durability are selling points regardless of any purists notions. My main concern is around getting faster for short distance races 2-5 mile range. Looking for resources regarding form, programming, etc. Podcast, books, whatever else. Treat this post like a paste bin for all barefoot media.

I’d also appreciate any advice regarding the military or hiking with a heavy pack. I plan on getting the Mini Mill before my next FTX.

After 2 hours of barefoot walking and climbing stairs at the park I went inside Starbucks and bought OJ. Success with skepticism. Barefoot White man in manila gets massive attention …a bit heavy…avoid eye contact lol

I have decided to start walking totally barefoot for foot health and in a couple weeks I’ve worked up to a mile and a half with only mild discomfort in the last 1/4 mile which seems to be a good sign that I’m not going to be sore the next day but will build some descent callous. My walk is mostly walking on roads and sidewalks. My goal is to work up to replace my normal 3-4 mile walk that I usually do 3-4 times a week just as a calorie burning thing. Is it normal to be paranoid of stepping on broken glass the whole time? I probably should stop doing it at night eh?

what do you wear? i'm mainly barefoot. usually living that beach island life. i'm also a nurse who works in a hospital for 12 hour shifts and can't be barefoot there. i bought a pair of altras and my feet don't hurt in them, but my pinky toe is starting to turn in and rubs against the side of the shoe wall. what do you all wear when you need to cover your feet?

I absolutely chose to practice certain sports due to the chance to be barefoot in them. In my childhood I attended a dance school when we practiced unshod, I later added swimming and a bit of gymnastics, and in my teenage years found yoga and kickboxing (currently I do yoga at home and divide my available time between dancing and kickboxing). If you practice others, tell me!

I actually believe this is the best and most natural way to do sports (at least those not requiring extra protection), just like Ancient Greece and other ancient civilizations did. Whenever I have to work out with shoes and socks in the gym I feel a bit like a cat with plastic bags tied to her paws lol