Newbury Optician faces abuse after turning away 'anti-masker'
Dr Valarie Jerome says she has never faced such "hate"
An optometrist from Newbury says she has been shocked at the reaction to a tweet about her decision to decline a patient an eye test.
Dr Valarie Jerome says the lady called at her new practice to ask for an eye test appointment. She asked if she had to wear a mask and when it became clear she had no medical exemption to not wear one the appointment was declined.
Viral
It was the first time Dr Jerome come up against an 'anti-masker ' since lockdown and opening to emergency patients back in May. After tweeting she said she was shocked at the reaction.
The tweet went viral attracting more than 10,000 shares & comments.
Hate
Dr Jerome said "I woke up and it had taken on a life of its own. We got a lot of people saying 'oh we support you' that was a good idea. And then I got a lot of hate I got called a lot of bad names, a lot of four-letter words that I'd never been called in my life.
"But I think what hurt the most was that they said I was being discriminatory and it's something that actually I took that quite to heart because I make it a point to make special arrangements for people with disabilities seen and unseen."
Other hate included people wishing her business would fail and that she'd go bankrupt. She said as a new business it wasn't something she enjoyed reading.
Dr Jerome says she has no issue with patients who can't wear a mask for medical reasons but she says she has to protect other high risk patients and her staff.