This post is on attitudes toward those in wheelchairs. I was actually amazed at people's reactions. I have found out though they were pretty standard. If someone spoke to me, 80% used a louder slower voice as if I were also deaf and dumb. Even those I knew talked slower and louder. I know my wheelchair height puts me 2 feet lower than I used to be but I don't think they were talking louder to carry their voice down to me.
I also couldn't believe how many people didn't respect the wheelchair I was in. Many hung on or leaned on the wheelchair as if to prop themselves up. Here I was with both feet elevated, a cast on the right leg, a brace on the left leg, and a cast on the left hand.....and they were leaning on the wheelchair as if it were a railing to hold them up. Many many times I didn't have the brake on and their leaning on the wheelchair pushed me away from the entire conversation and in one case pushed me backwards into a wall. Only one person apologized TO ME for doing it (the other 3 apologized to my husband). No one offered to move the chair back to its original position.
I had a lady after one of my lectures offer to take me to my next lecture which I gladly accepted as the next place was up a large incline then down 2 halls....I wasn't looking forward to that incline ramp. While I was finishing up speaking to all who had stopped to ask me questions after that lecure, she held onto the back of the wheelchair and actually started rolling me back and forth like I was a baby in a stroller. I had to ask her to stop.
I can't even begin to tell you how many people wouldn't even speak to me but only to my husband or one of the people who kindly volunteered to push me. They acted like I didn't exist and didn't have a mouth in which to speak.....shhh all who know just how big a mouth I have :)
I had one person actually pat me on the top of the head. That actually was about the most demeaning and patronizing thing I had done to me. I looked at them and said....thank you kind man but I am not a child and you are mussing my hair.
Having conversations with others who did treat me like I had a brain was actually hard. I am only 5'1" and am used to being the shortest around. Being in a wheelchair make me on the level of a child. Looking up to those taller and trying to carry on a conversation was horrible for my neck but since I try to find the good things....I did get a birds eye view of a lot of crotches!
My experiences are teaching me that the problem is society's perception of what a wheelchair signifies. We use phrases like 'wheelchair-bound' and 'confined to a wheelchair' that says that rather than the chair being something that enables and enhances my life, it is a totally negative experience. I love being able to be mobile.
I am too active a person to be stuck at home in bed. I have a mobility impairment currently which hopefully won't last any longer than the 6 months I was told. People need to see not a person who is handicapped but someone who has a handicap. There is a world of difference in that simple perception.
