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Naivety…
Written by Zoe on Saturday, June 21, 2008
Perhaps i am being naive.
Perhaps, just because i think that using a wheelchair is not a disability, then i assume that the rest of the world wont view it as such. Which is silly, because i know that they do, hence the shame and seclusion.
I keep on thinking that, if i should go through with this, it wouldnt harm anyone else, and technically it wouldnt physically harm anyone else, but have i perhaps underestimated society’s view on disability. Am i really qualified to say that my deciding to become a paraplegic / use a wheelchair wouldnt harm my husband, my children, my parents, my siblings?
Which i suppose, comes to the question of, how do you definte harm. This is a loaded topic - i know. And i realise i’m talking more than social stigma here, i’m talking emotional / psychological / physical… Every aspect of my life would be affected, which would in turn, affect every aspect of the lives of people around me.
So, whilst i might tell myself that i’d still be able to play basketball or netball with my kids, or that most places have wheelchair lifts/escalators so i wouldnt be precluded from entering, etc. I probably am being naive.
It’s not that i think that nothing would have to change, its that i think that nothing substantial would have to change. Sure, things would have to be different, but i dont necessarily beleive that things would be worse.
And maybe that’s where i’m being naive. On the other hand, wouldnt my children, my friends, my community, benefit from the realisation that i am no different whether i use a chair or not? I will always be the same person, i will just go about things in a different way, and surely it would only be a good thing for other people to see that using a wheelchair is not the be all and end all of who someone is…
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