People trying to "help"! And my reaction ....

Thing is I am an intelligent, well educated woman not a person who needs looking after
I am all of those things but they do not preclude a helping hand at times, a seat on the tube, a hand with a bag or case, a kind offer from a considerate stranger.
Why you should feel “hurt and angry” is beyond me. I would feel hurt and angry if an offer of help, kindly meant, was thrown back on my face and my head bitten off.

And people complain about the youth of today?

I am getting sick of things the other way around, personally.

People [men especially] can no longer
Open a car door for someone
Walk on the outside of a pavement

Women can no longer say
"are you alright chuck" or some such similar words

No one
can offer to help with IT
Offer an arm
Say hello over the garden fence
Say hello in a village street

Others can then become hurt, angry, humiliated, disempowered, insulted.

The world is becoming upside down.

A polite ‘thank you , but I’m ok’ isn’t too much for you is it? If you snap back, you are being a total bitch, not just coming across as one. You might be an intelligent, well educated woman, as am I, but how is a stranger to know that? A bit of gratitude and humility wouldn’t come amiss. Hurt and angry? You are over 65 and have/have had a disabling condition and whether you like it or not that’s clearly obvious to people, hence the offers of help. I would add that I have never felt patronised - in my experience those who complain of it are those who go looking for it.

I just smile and say I'm fine/ can manage thank you.

It is better than someone looking the other way. Just smile sweetly and say thank you but I am fine. None of us know if and when we may need the kind help is that offered.

Oh dear. Helpers damned if they do and damned if they don't. I offered to help to a young woman with a pushchair getting off a train. I was obviously patronising but it was a high step down. Anyway it didnt stop me from offering similar help again in the future. And I do ask not just grab.

The only ones I would be angry with are people who take your arm and march you across the road without your permission.

Anyone else as Auntiflo says " thanks but I can manage" should do the trick.

I am an intelligent, extremely IT literate and fiercely independant woman, but do have mobility uses.
If anyone offers to assist me, I look on it as an act of kindness ( rare in this day and age) and not patronising at all.

Hennahead, perhaps you are having/ had a bad day.
People can be so kind, and it doesn't take much to just say, " thanks, but I can manage"