sadI do not wish you my experience. I do not wish you injury or handicap, however temporary. I do not wish you pain. I do not wish you the soul-bruising frustration of being limited by a body that refuses to listen to your commands, or the salt in the wound that is knowing you did nothing to deserve this: that you didn't injure yourself running a marathon or rock-climbing, but instead fell prey to something that can strike anyone, at any time, for any reason. I do not wish you years spent sedentary, watching your friends rush by able-bodied and healthy, and struggling not to resent them for it.
Instead, I wish you empathy.
I wish for a future where you can look at someone using an assistance device, whether it be a cane, a wheelchair, or a motorized scooter, and think "isn't it wonderful how we live in a world where this person can have the same experiences I do."
I wish for a time where you can see someone using a motorized scooter to enjoy something as large as Disney World and think "isn't that person kind, to spare their friends and family the effort of pushing a manual wheelchair around this huge place, just so that they don't have to experience the nerve-racking stress of navigating something so large and potentially dangerous through a crowd."
I wish for a society where you can listen to simple, necessary requests and hear, not an inconvenience, but a leveling out of a certain small imbalance in the world.
I wish for a place where you can see a wheelchair user sitting to watch a parade and not think "great, let's stand in front of them, that's open space," but instead "isn't it lovely how we can all get a good view."
I am not asking for special privileges. I am not asking to go to the head of the line just because my left foot doesn't work sometimes.
All I am asking is to be allowed, unjudged and unresented, to join the line at all.
Thank you.
May 18 2015, 00:49:09 UTC 2 years ago
I've been having to use scooters at the store a LOT lately (fecking ehlers danlos) and while I have to occasionally fight the stores to keep their carts in good repair and accessible (Trader Joe's had theirs in the back room for a long time until I persuaded them that it didn't make sense for someone with limited ability to have to walk to the back of the store to get a mobility aid. It took another eight YEARS and a complaint to corporate to get them to a) hang the key near the machine at the front of the store instead of the manager's desk and b) stop boxing the damn thing in with two buck chuck.) for the most part people have been very good about it. i haven't had someone question my right to park in handicapped except once (where she just asked if I had a hang tag and I pointed at it quizzically and she moved on) and there are trips where I'll ask 20 different strangers to hand me something off a high shelf and they pretty much all do without hesitation.
Still rattling cages (pretty much literally) at many stores which don't allow enough room for an electric or even non-electric cart to go between racks. In Target, I just push them out of the way with the cart anymore because I'm over it. The stores that make more room and make things more accessible get more of my business.
The level of having to interact with random strangers when using an electric cart is way, way over what I would normally want though.
June 7 2015, 16:04:23 UTC 2 years ago