"Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them." - Edward R. Morrow
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Regardless of the amount of acceptance of one's self, others see you through their own experience. I became very aware of this at the Abilities Expo in Atlanta. My daughter and I met a perfectly charming man in a wheelchair much like mine. We talked in the food court area as we ate our late breakfast on our first visit to the Expo.
We saw the same gentleman on the next day and talked to him at one of the vendor's booths. I returned to a vendor that makes a walker that I wanted to try out at the Expo with the thought that it might provide a safe way for me to practice walking at home without being afraid of falling. It has a harness that catches your body if you begin to fall and provides a safe way to rest while walking or, as in my situation, if I have one of my scary abdominal spasms.
Our new friend came by as I was trying to stand in the device and said, "what are you doing!!!???" I stood up with the support of the second step device to show him. He immediately rode off with another person and did not speak to me again. I wondered if he felt misled by my wheelchair and our discussion about why we each needed a chair. I encountered a similar response in the other direction from another vendor. He challenged my use of a power chair over a power assist manual chair.
As I mentioned earlier, each person acts or judges from their own viewpoint and personal experience. I hope that I do not come across as judgmental to others who have disabilities. I believe that there are many 'right' ways to deal with the challenges we each face and that one has to develop a strong sense that what is right for them, might not be right for someone else. Only the person inhabiting their body knows the specifics that have contributed to their choices..."I live in my own little world, but it's okay, they know me here"...
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