As my friend was walking with her cane to make purchases at the grocery store a couple soon was behind her making rude comments. “It will be interesting to watch how a blind person gets around and shops for food.” This deflated my friend, as the couple followed her around the store making comment after comment not taking into account that she could hear every word they said, her confidence in her abilities and those negative thoughts in her head about her disability became bigger.

I have noticed with my own disability that the public with seemingly healthy people seem to think that making comments, judgments, and accusations towards those with a visible or invisible illness often times become aggressive and downright cruel. They don’t take into account the deeper picture, they seem to think since this person has a disability they don’t have feelings or better yet they seem to get all the rewards of being disabled.  I am here to share that it is not a reward being blind, have a painful condition, have a trach, or even be in a wheelchair. Negative thoughts abound a person’s mind and causes them to be angry because they can’t do things as easy as the rest of the population.  No one wants to talk about it in depth about the painful emotional side or the fact that it is hard to be in public where people stare and make remarks that hurt deeply.

I have one request for everyone. When you see someone with a disability do not be afraid to actually talk to the person, not just at them. If you have a question about how they maneuver, ask it. If you want to say I admire your courage, and then say it. If you want to say I would hate to be   in your position, be honest.  But don’t be cruel, don’t beat them up, leave rude notes, follow them around in the store, or even run them over with your car.

And if you see someone in the store using a cart that doesn’t appear to be disabled, before making a judgment about how they are lazy, consider that perhaps they have a chronic illness that makes walking around difficult for them. Not everyone is lazy, because frankly using those carts is embarrassing.  I know that everyone is in a rush and does not like to think about health issues and think we all have this fountain of youth if we eat correctly and drink a ton of water, truth is, and that doesn’t cure us from all diseases. It makes it a bit easier to handle, but it doesn’t cure it or make it go away. Death still happens, so does disease.

On another note, contrary to popular belief just because someone has a disability doesn’t mean that they are worthless and are not worthy of love and respect. That is my rant for today…  Enjoy your day… Keep breathing…