go figure - attitudes beyond your front door

[Everlasting]

As a wheelchair user and as an advocate for my partner in ESRF I have encountered the full range of attitudes from persons on the street....everything to people choosing to cross the street and walk on the other side.
     When days are good I can get about using forearm crutches -- the experiences are as different as night and day.
     People want to avoid wheelchair space and go to great length to distance themselves where as when I am using crutches people just about fall over themselves trying to help -- opening doors etc.
     On the average it takes 35 minutes to get a taxi and when using crutches I count on 10 minutes....go figure!!

[thegrammalady]

peoples comfort levels manifest in different ways. usually their way of handling what they don't understand is to ignore it. crossing the street means they don't have to deal with it. don't have to become upset. wrong, but none the less what happens. i once had a mother chase me out of the grocery store with tears in her eyes to thank me for talking to her son. they were behind me in checkout and while waiting for my order to be processed i had spent the time telling him what a cutie i thought he was. he had multiple disabilities and was in a wheel chair. he was about 8 and no one in public had ever spoken to him before. his mother was dumbfounded. i have a disabled child, they are people to. the general public just doesn't see it that way. they are afraid. ...there for the grace of god go i....

[Hanify]

Last year when we went to LA and LV for a trip I needed a wheelchair to get around.  I can walk, but only short distances.  So when we went wandering around Las Vegas, or at Disneyland I needed one.  Boy was it an eye opener!  Like Everlasting I found that people just didn't see me as a human being.  They only ever talked to Paul, never looked at me.  It was really weird.  I have always been determined since to engage with a person in a wheelchair (if needs be) and actually 'see' them.

[silverhead]

And don't you just love it when they do talk to you they raise their voice, because you obviously cannot hear well either......

[Everlasting]

On a positive not as a wheelchair user:  For those who are in this dilemma take a moment when you are out and about a shopping area.  Note the incredible, precious, large and curious eyes of the three year holds who are in strollers.  They not only display an expression that  speaks to the excitement of seeing a "big person" in a stroller but as you pass them they will offer a little wave along with a great big grin......it gives one a feeling that they have made a new friend.
Enjoy!
Everlasting