by Russ Austin

Created on: April 18, 2010   Last Updated: April 20, 2010

In April 1997, I was involved in an e-mail question and answer session with Gary Karp.  He was doing research for his book "Life On Wheels."  Since February 1996, I had been using a wheelchair part-time and I knew because of the progression of Friedreich's Ataxia (FA), the neuro-muscular disorder that I have, it wouldn't be much longer before I was in a wheelchair full-time.

I was 25 when I e-mailed back and forth with Gary.  I can't relate to some of this now, but it does help show where my mind was at the time.

How did I feel in April 1997 about helping people in wheelchairs?  The 8 answers to the 8 questions beneath the dotted line should help shed some light on that.  I'll comment further at the end of this piece.

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1. How does it feel to be helped?

The fact that someone is trying to help you is usually a good thing.  Everyone is different.  There are some people who genuinely want to help someone in a wheelchair, and that`s fine. Of course there are those that just ignore you, or give you rather bizarre looks. 

You can`t read everyone`s minds, but you try to pick up on their motives for helping you based on their body language and tone of voice. The ones that try too hard and sound like they're trying to say all the right things tend to bug me the most. Often, they`ll tell you about how many disabled people they think they know and how those people are coping with their disabilities. All the while, they forget that you`re an individual and treat you like a member of this media generated "Handicapped Community."

I wonder about this alleged "Handicapped Community" that I`m always hearing about. Are there some cool amenities in this community? Is there a wheelchair wash service by the 7-11? Is there a "Mustang Ranch" kind of a place where there are available hot-to-trot women with the abilities of common sense and rational thought to overlook the unfortunate fact that a guy happens to be in a wheelchair and is still sexually virile? I wanna know!

It`s nice to be helped, but many people are just too ignorant to see that every Human Being on this dying planet should always be willing to help their fellow Human beings whenever they can, and go about their lives like it`s no big deal. But I guess that`s just asking too much. Maybe....

2. Have you ever blamed problems in your life on your disability that might not have really been about that?

I think everyone with a disability has at some point blamed problems

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