The Giving Hands

Melanie, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2002, blogged about her ordeal in trying to reach for the wheelchair at a shopping centre.

Upon arriving at the shopping centre, her friend Michelle excitedly asked her to get a wheelchair.

Eager for fatigue freedom myself, I caned toward the door as fast as I could, only to discover that the chair was sitting just inside the exit. As I hobbled toward the sliding glass doors, they refused to open for me because I was entering from the wrong direction. I stared at the wheelchair through the glass and I stood clinging to a pile of organic charcoal and staring at the chair through the glass, waiting for someone to exit through the doors so that I would be granted access. I figured that as long as I could see it, I could furiously beat my cane against the glass at any passing old person who attempted to mount what I had declared as mine.

And not far from where Melanie stood was a girl about her age who also seemed to be waiting for something or someone. She kept glancing over at Melanie every few seconds. “Um…You have to go in the other door,” she offered.

“I know,” Melanie tried to say nicely. “I’m just waiting for someone to exit so I can get that wheelchair,” She then pointed to the wheelchair with her cane.

“Oh, ok,” the other girl chuckled.

Did I honestly look like I expected the doors to open if I stared at them long enough? The only marker of any kind of disability, mental or physical, was that I carried was a cane. I am not retarded!! How many times do I have to say it? There is a method to my madness, and I have a perfectly good reason for doing everything that I do!! Will everyone stop assuming I’m retarded? I am disabled and kind of quirky! Maybe even eccentric. That is all.

Did I just hear somebody say that we’re really an insensitive bunch? Ouh yeah, I think I just said that in my previous post :) Which reminds me of a community service message I heard from a local radio station, which goes something like this:

Have you every wondered why are mirrors installed in the lift? Some people say that they’re for us to check that we’re presentable. And some people say that those mirrors make the lifts look bigger than they actually are.

In fact, the real usage of the mirror in the lift is to enable wheelchair users to see which level they are at, without them having to turn around in the wheelchair.

So you see, many times we look at things from our own personal point of views. Have we ever tried to look from another person’s point of view??