oh the wheelchair thing :o(
I never understood just how wierd people are until I had a brain haemorrage at 14 which left me in a wheelchair for several months.

The "is he ok?" one was bad enough - nobody wanted to talk to me and would direct all questions to whoever was wheeling me about at the time. I was even refered to as "the wheelchair" once by someone in a cafe. But worse were the people who would crouch down to below my eye level, look up at me and address me as if they were talking to a toddler. "ARE-YOU-AL-RIGHT??" in a slow, loud, patronising voice. Gahh!

Some of the shops I worked at had wheelchair bound customers and it made me cringe to see the way some of my colleagues spoke to them.
( h3donist tryin' to play me out as if my name is Sega.., Fri 16 Oct 2009, 11:39, 1 reply)

yeah
it was very tough. I was 19, stick thin because of months on a drip, and very self conscious of everything. I still cringe when people talk to disabled people like they are stupid, and make a point of talking normally. The worst one was the parent who was amazed at the sight, and actually walked round to take a second closer look.
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 11:48, closed)

I had an operation on my foot once
in my 20s, and I had to use a walking stick for a little while. Even with just that pissy little thing, I copped the whole people-talking-to-me-like-I'm-deaf-or-stupid thing. WTF? It was just my foot! So I can only imagine what it must have been like for you. What the hell is wrong with people?

Old people used to look at me very suspiciously too, like it was all an elaborate plan to do them out of a seat on the bus.
( HairyCanary as Ann B. Davis as Alice, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 12:35, closed)

when I graduated to a walking stick
one old man sidled up to me, tutted and said 'you have been in the wars then.' It surprises them if you say 'yeah Iraq was hell.'
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 15:00, closed)