I have decided to occasionally get very personal and post stories of various awkwardness that I have experienced that are (at least tangentially) related to my disability.
Recently three of us went out to an after-hours party at a convention. The convention was held in a hotel, and most of it was fairly accessible. The rooms in which the party was held was less so. For example -- we had to pull the wheelchair outside because of the lip between the room and the outside concrete patio.
So, enough with the details. At one point, a older gentleman with a kind of a creepy vibe stood next to me and patted me on the shoulder. As he did so, he repeatedly said something about his mom using a wheelchair due to polio. I was very uncomfortable. I am not a touchy-feely person, and I do not think that my use of a wheelchair is an open invitation for people to lay hands on me. So when he turned away for a moment, I backed the chair up against the wall so it would be very difficult to reach my shoulder. I could not go get someone in charge to have a talk with him because of the patio/door lip. He wandered off shortly after, and my husband had a talk with the gentleman once I told him what happened.
I am PatientC. Welcome! This is a disability oriented blog where issues and intersection are discussed at my whim and with varying degrees of humanity, snark, and intensity. Content can be adult at times, farcical at others.
You could always do what my Dad did, and carry a hand gun in the side of your wheelchair. It should deter most people from being creepy/inconsiderate/condescending/etc.
ReplyDeleteThat would be interesting! I wonder how it affected folks that interacted with your Dad.
ReplyDelete