Tales From A Wheelchair

I Am An Operation Table!

One of the things I have noticed now that I am in wheelchair is the looks I get from people. Some are with pity. Some of the looks I get are filled with anger. Like how dare I live and remind those around me that life is short.

Most of those looks work my nerves. I have been around peope riddled with all kinds of disabilites. I was taught not to look at what they can't do but to look at what they excell at in life. Of course I assumed everyone was taught in such a fashion. Now I do see I was wrong to assume this was true.

Now grranted there are wonderful people who treat me with respect. Those who don't wear that look of pity like a badge when I come around. Instead they treat me with the respect I feel I deserve.

There a group of people who's odd looks aren't an issue for me. That is the looks of wonder I recieve from children. I welcome questions from kids (adults too for that matter). I do my best to answer questions without scaring them. Kids imaginations can run away from them and I don't want to be the cause of their nightmares.

The point is that I was at Wal-Mart shopping. I needed to get something off the top shelf. I didn't want to wait for Jose. I mean sometimes I just need to do it myself. So I started raising my chair to reach the top shelf.

Now before I go any farther I need to explain how my chair works. My chair was specially designedfor the issues I have. One of the issues I have is extreme low blood pressure. I had low blood pressure before but it did not really bother me the way it does now. When they designed my chair they designed it where my legs go up and my head would go down. This helps with my dizziness.

As an extra my chair can rise up where I can reach higher. When I was on that asle some kids where watching me with amazement. One of the little boys even expressed that he thought I was a transformer. I thought it was funny and started to laugh until his mother pulled him close and told him he could catch what I have.

That pissed me off because she wasn't making it a teachable moment. She wasn't trying to teach her children about respecting disabled people. She was teaching her to fear us and that ticked me off. I didn't wanted to be feared. I just wanted to be accepted.

I remember what someone suggested to me. So I flatten my chair out like an operation table. I could see the litle boy was amazed. So I did tell him I was a transformer. My special gift was I could turn into an operation table. That made the little boy and his brother check out my wheelchair. I could see the mother was worried. I assured her my condition was due to a wreck, not an illness.

The point is that I should have to explain it. I understand why she might be concerned but the last I heard polio isn't an issue in America anymore. Still to have to explain my condition. I mean let's face it I have been through a lot, why make me have to relive it every time someone is afraid of my condition. At times, it makes me feel sad for even daring to be a part of society.

I survived an awful wreck. Should I or anyone else have to go through it explaining our condition every time we dare live a normal life? We ( and yes I speak for a group of us when I say this) are just wanting to live like everyone else. So stop making your kids afraid of us! So from now on I am the Transformer Operation Table. I will continue to be until you as a parent start teaching your kids a different way to deal with all the disabled people who are around. We are just like everyone else.