Indignities of Disability Insults

I always think it's over, but it will never be over. The thoughtless, hurting, maddening, comments about people with disabilities that each generation tosses about.

Last night I was headed out for a board game in my retirement/assisted living home. I made a poor transfer and got crooked in my power chair, slowly slipping out of it. My partner was nearby and my caregiver was called. She arrived in less than 3 minutes with the front desk security in tow. My aide righted me. Should have been end of story. But there it was.

"You are full of tricks! Look, you can walk!" the guard/receptionist said with a smile. She is young and I like her a lot, but she, like so many others, just don't get it. They mean no harm, but the harm is done. My partner, who is at the "I can walk about in apt. by myself" stage, needs a power chair for distance. Her arms do not have the strength to use a manual chair. She tries so hard every day to exercise, walk as much as she can, and even dance...tripping, sliding into walls, but remembering her dancing days with great joy. A "TRICK?" Seriously?

What kind of person thinks having to use a wheel chair of fun? A game? I NEVER would have said or thought some of the ignorant things people have said to my partner and me over the years. Forgive me for showing no humility whatsoever, but I GET IT. I GOT it before I got MS. My mother would NEVER say some of the things I've had to deal with, and believe me I DEAL with them, "Disability Awareness" is my middle name now, any chance to open someone's eyes, I'll take it. As I said, nobody means to be inconsiderate. They need to learn what my mother taught me well: Do not judge anyone until you've walked a mile in their shoes. Mom recalled her father saying that often. Many people say it, more need to do it.

Walk the talk, and don't talk until you've had the walk.