As many of you know I suffer from a few disabilities. I also worked for many years with people with a wide range of disabilities including deaf and hard of hearing, visually impaired and blind, mobility impairments (use crutches, walkers, scooters or wheelchairs).
Having been on two sides of a disability I know a lot of people are confused.
Here is something from my life that I experience regularly
I'm in a wheelchair now and although I don't use it in the house I do use it to go out. But if my daughter is coming to pick me up in her car I might take my walker down to the car or maybe just a cane. And recently I got a bike so now the people in the building are totally confused. They don't understand that "Can't walk far" doesn't mean can't walk at all. I get the same thing in the store. People see me stand up and some get angry thinking I am just milking this. I wish
People wear glasses. We don't all have the same prescription. And even though we wear glasses most of us would say we are not blind. We CAN see. There are many causes of vision loss and everyone needs to be assessed properly by a vision specialist.
Deafness is the same thing. Some people hear nothing. Some hear a bit. Some hear a lot. There are many causes of hearing loss. Like glasses hearing aids come in prescriptions. Hearing loss needs to be assessed by a hearing specialist.
People with mobility problems are the same. My neighbor is paralyzed from just above the waist down. He cannot walk at all. I on the other hand am quite mobile in the apartment. I sit as much as I can because I can't be on my feet very long. I use a stool if I have to be at the sink or stove for longer than 5-10 minutes at a time. The causes of mobility impairments are staggering. It too needs to be assessed by medical specialists.
People just need to be educated. Like dogs. I meet a lot of people with their dogs. Some dogs are curious about the chair. Some are scared and some could care less. They just need to be educated. So I stop and do some doggy education.
Now here is a funny story. I drove into a pet shop the other day and was looking at the geckos in one of the aquariums. Cute little fellows. One aquarium had two. One of them was totally bored with me. But the other one was freaking out at the huge moving back chair outside his window. I felt bad for him and tried some of my animal education but he just wasn't interested at all and finally went to hide where he couldn't be seen although I did notice he could see me when I had to pass the tank again. Poor thing.
People education. Doggy education. Now I am doing gecko education lol
So here is an opportunity to ask your questions. If you feel too shy to ask a question PM me and I will post your question (without your name of course)
There may be others here with disabilities who can answer your questions too. I welcome them to join in with responses of even with questions about other disabilities.