Recently, I had the interesting task of explaining something that I have explained many times before. A young child innocently enough came up to me and asked why I could not walk. Their parent looked on in some mix of bewilderment, embarrassment and horror. The child asked “why can’t you walk?” So I did my best to answer, that my brain didn’t talk to my legs they way that they did to this child standing before me. (How does one explain a neurological condition to a child anyway?) Then more questions: can you feel your legs? To which I answered yes – it was then that the parent spoke up and told the child to stop bothering me and let’s continue shopping. I politely said your child was no bother at all and enjoy your day.
It is more of a bother when you pass children in public and they ask the adult they are with, why I am in a wheelchair, they are then scolded or told something to the effect of I don’t know they were probably in an accident. I would prefer instead of assuming every young healthy looking wheelchair user is an accident victim that you let the child ask the question I realize that some chair users could be uncomfortable with this but I also know that my friends are used to it this, is something we’ve been asked our whole lives
Good answer. I usually answer with something like this –
Pretend that your brain is the telephone company and all the lines are going to all the residences in your body. Well, my telephone company has about a third of its building down so the residences that the section controls aren’t working right.
Now then, I know that a stroke is different then CP but I just wanted you to know that all of us have to answer that question. And like you, most of us welcome the opportunity to educate others.
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Glynis, your answer is a good one too. Like you Laura, I have had to deal with incidents/questions like these many times in life. I have to say my attitude toward them has changed to be somewhat like yours. Right now as a woman in my mid 20s I am quite happy when kids say nothing but when they do I would much rather answer the questions myself than have their parents answer it for me. I also see that in some way it is a great experience for both me and the child to talk openly about the nature of my disability. I am not sure if they will fully understand the concepts of all that is involved in CP so I usually simplify it for them. All that being said, when I was a kid I HATED it when other kids noticed/commented about my disability. Now I’m not sure why I thought it would go unnoticed!