As you have gathered, I am disabled and more and more I have been relying upon a wheelchair. I have noticed an interesting phenomenon when I’m in my wheelchair. People speak louder as if I’m hard of hearing which I am, but even more interesting is the way I am treated. I graduated from college near the top of my class and was a summa cum laude graduate. I also graduated from high school with honors. Those two things show that I have at least average intelligence, but often when I am in my wheelchair I seem to be considered unable to even understand the simplest of sentences. Most of the time I find it amusing and it gives me the chance to mess with the person who’s doing it to me. However, on occasions, I find it very irritating and it makes me wonder how people who have been in a wheelchair most of their life feel about their treatment. The short blog is just a request that when you meet someone in a wheelchair treat them as you would any other person. Losing the ability to walk does not mean that we lost 150 IQ points.
Would you please take a few moments and forward this blog to your friends. Thank you. Here is the URL https://vcmusings.com/musings/how-to-lose-150-iq-points/
One Response
This is interesting and true. When I lived in Hawaii, my boss was in a wheelchair. I often observed people raising their voices and talking in a high pitched tone when being introduced to him. They would lean down right into his face and say in that sickening tone “Hi, it’s so nice to meet you.” They always had a weird fake smile on their faces. In California I briefly dated a guy in a wheelchair. Whenever we went out to eat, the waiter or waitress always ignored him and expected me to place his order for him. He always found this annoying. I would just look over at him and let the server figure out that he was quite capable of giving his own order. Both of these men were much smarter than me.