Comments on: You look so happy http://transabled.org/thoughts/other-thoughts/claires-thoughts/you-look-so-happy.htm Talking about Body Integrity Identity Disorder - Just another disability! Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:37:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Chloe http://transabled.org/thoughts/other-thoughts/claires-thoughts/you-look-so-happy.htm#comment-15093 Chloe Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:58:49 +0000 http://transabled.org/?p=760#comment-15093 This thought of Claire prompted me to go to Starbucks today, and thence this comment. It has not even been three weeks since I first ventured with leg braces out in public. Now I feel so strange and naked without them. On the way home from my psychotherapy session I stopped in the grocery store, with the Starbucks nearby. I couldn't resist; remembering what Claire had said. The barista greeted me with such a big welcoming smile. I smiled back, exchanging pleasantries. He seemed to be much more interested in my skimpily clad curvaceous upper body than the crutches and braces. Nobody said I looked happy; but I did feel happy, just being myself. This thought of Claire prompted me to go to Starbucks today, and thence this comment. It has not even been three weeks since I first ventured with leg braces out in public. Now I feel so strange and naked without them. On the way home from my psychotherapy session I stopped in the grocery store, with the Starbucks nearby. I couldn’t resist; remembering what Claire had said. The barista greeted me with such a big welcoming smile. I smiled back, exchanging pleasantries. He seemed to be much more interested in my skimpily clad curvaceous upper body than the crutches and braces. Nobody said I looked happy; but I did feel happy, just being myself.

]]> By: Gordo http://transabled.org/thoughts/other-thoughts/claires-thoughts/you-look-so-happy.htm#comment-14627 Gordo Mon, 12 May 2008 01:06:10 +0000 http://transabled.org/?p=760#comment-14627 I was actually on a wheeling trip yesterday in two local towns called Ladner and Cloverdale, and I felt the exact thing that Nobody described, especially the thing about manipulating your world. Going to an unfamiliar place for wheeling trips is like entering a new world where you are a "real" paraplegic (even though you're actually not), and just to live out a day in this new world is just satisfying. I haven't had someone tell me I look happy when I wheel, but I suspect that I do, because I've had people express how impressed they are that "someone like you" is so independent and such. It's like the theory that telling a girl that she looks tired is the same as saying she looks ugly -- when someone says they're impressed at my independence, it feels the same as someone saying I look confident and happy in the world. I was actually on a wheeling trip yesterday in two local towns called Ladner and Cloverdale, and I felt the exact thing that Nobody described, especially the thing about manipulating your world. Going to an unfamiliar place for wheeling trips is like entering a new world where you are a “real” paraplegic (even though you’re actually not), and just to live out a day in this new world is just satisfying.

I haven’t had someone tell me I look happy when I wheel, but I suspect that I do, because I’ve had people express how impressed they are that “someone like you” is so independent and such. It’s like the theory that telling a girl that she looks tired is the same as saying she looks ugly — when someone says they’re impressed at my independence, it feels the same as someone saying I look confident and happy in the world.

]]> By: Nobody http://transabled.org/thoughts/other-thoughts/claires-thoughts/you-look-so-happy.htm#comment-14618 Nobody Sun, 11 May 2008 03:01:56 +0000 http://transabled.org/?p=760#comment-14618 I know that feeling, and I've had a similar experience. I think of it as the happiness that arises from being how you're supposed to be, and your awareness of your happiness, and the knowledge that you've succeeded in manipulating your world in order to be that way, even if only temporarily. I know that feeling, and I’ve had a similar experience. I think of it as the happiness that arises from being how you’re supposed to be, and your awareness of your happiness, and the knowledge that you’ve succeeded in manipulating your world in order to be that way, even if only temporarily.

]]> By: Ronald http://transabled.org/thoughts/other-thoughts/claires-thoughts/you-look-so-happy.htm#comment-14615 Ronald Sat, 10 May 2008 17:08:02 +0000 http://transabled.org/?p=760#comment-14615 It would appear this observer expects the disabled to be depressed, negative, bitter and anti-social. Now, she can go home and feel smug for a long time, having made her first positive contact with a "special person". I hope she does not dislocate a shoulder reaching around to pat herself on the back. It would appear this observer expects the disabled to be depressed, negative, bitter and anti-social. Now, she can go home and feel smug for a long time, having made her first positive contact with a “special person”. I hope she does not dislocate a shoulder reaching around to pat herself on the back.

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