Look me in the eyes.

This isn't a 13 year old boy finding boobs for the first time or any man at any age finding boobs for the gazillionth time.

This is me, in a wheelchair and people avoiding eye contact.  I try to assert myself and talk to people like I always would when I'm in the chair.  To me, it's no big deal to interact. People almost act surprised that I can converse like a normal person.  Amazing.

To many, it's like they have to avert their eyes so they don't look like they are staring, visually prying, wondering what's wrong.  Do they feel uncomfortable like they don't know what to say?  Is it necessary to say anything at all?  Is it really that different to be upright?

I was an observer in this situation.  A man was in the mall in a wheelchair with his helper dog.  A young boy was stopped, mesmerized and you could see his mom was uncomfortable, trying to keep him from staring or saying anything.  Before long, the little one took off running towards the man.  The mom, obviously rattled for reasons far beyond the fact that her child was running away from her, obviously afraid he was going to say something embarrassing to the man yelled after him with a mortified look on her face.

I saw the boy approach the man in the wheelchair and very excitedly ask if he could pet his dog.  He didn't see his chair.  He didn't care about anything other than the fact that a dog was in the mall.  I could see that the mom felt embarrassed by the way she acted, knowing that it showed her own prejudices.

Just remember, we aren't the chair.  We aren't our disability.  We are people that want to be looked at, not looked away from.  It's bad enough to live with what we do from day to day.

My own personal story.  I was with my daughter at last year's Women's Expo in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  She was "driving" for the first time.  She was trying to navigate the mass crowd that was so absorbed that they didn't see her or me or anyone other than themselves, for that matter.  I had people walk over my feet and actually had someone almost jump over my legs.  Really?!

So now I'm not just being avoided, people act like I'm invisible, too.  So I ask you to look me in the eyes, look everyone in the eyes.  A little kindness goes a long way.