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Girl in a wheelchair: Why are you in a wheelchair? →
Do any other wheelchair drivers hear this a lot?
It always amazes me how people, usually those without any impairments at all, feel entitled to ask this and pry into your life. Does anyone else find that the answer “I can’t walk” (or “I can’t walk far” or “I can’t walk without pain”) is deemed to be insufficient by the nosy person?
Why does anyone feel they have the right to know this?
What bugs me even more than this is the number of people who tell me that I could walk if I only I tried, or if I tried harder, and I shouldn’t give up. Then they tell me some supposedly inspiring story about some friend of theirs who lost a leg, usually in a warzone, and that they never gave up on walking and so neither should I. Thanks, now that makes me feel like I’m useless too, wonderful. How do they know I can walk again? Have they stopped to think about how much it hurts? How exhausting it is?
Why are they so bothered about whether I walk or not? Why is using a wheelchair seen as “giving up” anyway? Actually, what gives them the right to demand that I put myself in pain or risk injuring myself anyway?
Answer with an equally irrelevant question:
Why are you wearing shoes?
Why are you wearing glasses?
Why do you drive a car?
Why do you have a raincoat?
Or you could opt to completey deny it:
I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.
Lasciame sola.
What wheelchair?
The wheelchair is a paradox.
i get this question way too often. fucking irritating.
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roz-spoon liked this
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bloodonmytypewriterkeys reblogged this from fuckthedisabled and added:
Sweet god, I wish I had a chance to use this. At the very least, I’ll have to put it in a story. I could use it in The...
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amie2 liked this
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aliciafaye reblogged this from fuckthedisabled and added:
I think I’m going to say “What wheelchair?” next time. I don’t mind if small children ask me when I’m out in public, but...
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wheelz17 liked this
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neednothavehappenedtobetrue liked this
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neednothavehappenedtobetrue reblogged this from ziggehstardust
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femfatale liked this
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somehecticshit reblogged this from fuckthedisabled and added:
i get this question way too often. fucking irritating.
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ziggehstardust reblogged this from flutterflyinvasion and added:
It is entirely possible for disabled people to be ableist, although in my case it’s directed towards myself,...
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flutterflyinvasion reblogged this from littlemissmutant and added:
I get the “You can walk (more) if you only tried harder.” and variations on it from other disabled people as well…..
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littlemissmutant reblogged this from fuckthedisabled
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ladygoggle liked this
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fuckthedisabled reblogged this from girl-in-a-wheelchair and added:
Answer with an equally irrelevant question: Why are you wearing shoes? Why are you wearing glasses? Why do you...
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milamesmo answered:
I don’t mind when it’s children asking. They’re naturally curious about everything and have a open minded, answering them is the best thing.
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naoconstante liked this
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crippledbrat answered:
I’d rather people ask because when people don’t, there’s the elephant in the room “issue”. I usually give some smart ass answers anyways. :P
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gimpunk reblogged this from girl-in-a-wheelchair
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primo-dang reblogged this from devotee and added:
“Por que você está numa cadeira de rodas? Outros pilotos de cadeiras de rodas ouvem isso muito? Sempre me surpreende...
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primo-dang liked this
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devotee reblogged this from girl-in-a-wheelchair
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cheyenne80195 answered:
I’d rather people ask than be curious. But I hate when people say I could walk if I worked at it. What makes you think I WANT to walk?
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girl-in-a-wheelchair posted this
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