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Home / Thoughts / An interesting question

An interesting question

Written by Sean on Saturday, March 4, 2006

I recently received an email from a lady who says she had polio as a young infant. She asks an interesting question about how far would we keep "in character" when wheeling. I was unable to give her a straight, definite and unambiguous answer. If you wheel by choice, what do *you* think you’d do? Let me know (BTW, I ask so often for feedback and get so little of it, it sometimes feels like I’m talking to the wall, come on gang, REACT, and interact!).

She writes:

Anyway, wannabees/pretenders or whatever do puzzle me. I don’t dislike them, they have done me no harm, however, nor do I understand them…… So here is something I ‘need’ to ask……

If I was out shopping with a wannabe/pretender and I was being mugged by a gang of people, would he/she jump up and come to my rescue….or would they struggle on from the ‘chair’ and let me take what was coming to me?

Am not meaning to upset anyone by asking this, but I would love for someone to answer it for me!

This does pose an interesting question, doesn’t it? Just how far are we willing to go? I never looked at it from the angle of being mugged, but have wondered on and off about what I’d do in the case of a disaster, a quake, or a burning fire, or a plane crash. Would I remain in my wheeling character, at the risk of my own life, and more importantly other people’s lives?

The answer is that I honestly don’t know. I suspect it would entirely depend on the circumstance. I would like to think I’d be good and jump out of the chair like a jack-in-the-box, surprise the mugger into dropping their weapons and flee. But realistically, if we’re talking about a *gang* of people attacking someone, there would be very little I could do as a single individual. I’d be best calling the cops and reporting the mugging and giving description of the perpetrators than to go after them myself. If it’s one person with a knife, maybe I could do something, but then, maybe he’d stab me (and while being stabbed in the spine would be ideal in the end, chances are the ruffian would attack my guts rather than aim just right for my spine!). If it’s someone with a gun, well, the surprise might just be enough to startle them into shooting both the victim and the "rescuer". So from all those angles, it appears undesirable for me to leave the chair to go help.

But in the case of a fire in a building, or a plane crash… That’s a bit of a different story, as the difference between wheeling and walking can quite seriously and directly impact on my ability to survive. My insisting on remaining in character might also mean that whomever is trying to help me is risking their own welfare. And that just seems wrong. I often claim that my wheeling doesn’t hurt anyone. This would most certainly not be true anymore. I *think* I’d have to leave the chair behind, or at least jump up and push it (I don’t wanna lose this chair if I can help it!)

All that to say, I don’t know what *I* would do, much less what other folks using chairs by choice would do. It depends on the circumstances in the end.