Re: Earthlings response to our helpful devices/people can be so rude

[Guest guest]

I want to clarify something here. I think that most of you have

misunderstood my post entitled " people can be so rude " . Thru my

illness i have found just how wonderful and caring people can be.

They go out of their way to help me. not a day passes with me not

saying a big thank you and giving a big smile to those people.

Occasionaly i get stared at and this is what upsets me. Hey, I am

only human and feel i have been given a raw deal with this disorder as

i am only 47 and still havent accepted it and thats still after 7

years. and before you all jump on me for that, I have formed my own

way of thinking to help me with that. If i see a younger person who

is a quadriplegic or hear of a child who has cancer, yes then i

realise that i am not in a bad place. The other day i went to see my

rehab Dr as i walked out, a woman not much older than me was sitting

in a wheelchair and she wasnt going too well. once again, i thought

well here i am with my walker and i am going pretty good and possibly

she looked at me and thought she wished she was like me, with a walker

and going around independentaly. Its just the stares that annoy me

but many of you here have given me many useful ideas as to how to

combat this and i have already implemented them.

thank you

maureen

> Maureen:

> I am so sorry for your unpleasant experiences of " earthlings "

response to

> your cane/walker etc.

> I have had the exact opposite. In fact I plan on writing to a

columnist

> from Newsday about all the strangers that have helped me...without

me asking for

> help. I must admit that my walkers are decorated with butterfly

decals and I

> have a bicycle horn on each walker. People seem to focus on the

decorated

> walker rather than me. I think that the kid's responses are because

they haven't

> seen a person with a walker....so when a kid looks at my walker I

ask them if

> they would like to honk the horn, and I honk it. I have made many

friends

> with my " crazy walkers. "

> Last week I was waiting on the sidewalk, in a small shopping mall,

for the

> traffic to stop so I could cross the street. A woman, a perfect

stranger,

> went out into the middle of the street and held up her hands, like a

traffic cop.

> Every car stopped as she waved me to cross the street. I must

admit that I

> was a little awkward about everything stopping for me....but was

overwhelmed

> with a stranger's kindness.

> Friends have told me that others have told them that they admire my

> determination.

> Each day I try to find an opportunity and know that a challenge is

usually

> attached. So often the challenges are the doors. To be handicapped

accessible

> doors have to be wide enough for a wheelchair....nothing about the

weight of

> the door...most stores do not seem to have the " buttons " to use, but

it seems

> that someone always appears to help.

>

> Sorry this is so long, but I had to share my wonderful experiences with

> strangers helping me.

> Hope that everyone is having a lots of good days.

> Bebe

>

>

>