Saw this in FB through which I have befriended three other individuals who, like me, have SCI (spinal cord injuries). Well, befriended may not be an apt word, more like “added as friend”. I have communicated with just two of the three through private messages or a comment under one of their posts, but with the author of this piece who is a friend, I don’t remember having done so. what a tedious explanation that amounts to nothing and is actually irrelevant to the many valid points she makes in this article (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachelle-friedman/10-things-you-shouldnt-say_b_4334039.html) that is so worthwhile reading. It made me recall a few daunting experiences myself, to wit:
a) My sister brought a sosyal lady who made curtains to the house. When she saw me in bed where I usually am while at home, but sitting up (being so makes me less prone to get pressure sores), she said “If this happened to me (being in a wheelchair for life), I’d prefer to die.”
b) I was raring to make salad for my then boyfriend but my “assistant” (HH) was so eager to be useful she made it before I could. I cried. My thought then: there are so few things I could do as it was for my boyfriend and she deprived me of one chance – to make a salad I could easily do with my hands.
c) The little boy who said people in wheelchairs are “sagabal” when he wanted to cross my path in National Bookstore Shangrila. I can only imagine how his opinion was formed. Via osmosis with the source being his adult company, I guess.
d) people saying “kawawa ka naman” early on in my paralysis – that, in the start, made me feel exactly what they said even if minutes before they did I was perfectly fine.
e) people looking to check if I have feet, people staring.
And so on.
One of the comments under the article shared in FB so amused me I did a screen capture:
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