Here's another story about a wheelchair, and about what makes
people tick.  Those who don't want to hear about the former can skip to
paragraph #4.

          A charitable organization had offered us free tickets to a Christmas
concert, as they had to various other families including kids with a complex &
unusual medical history.  Most of the other kids who attended are able-bodied,
so we weren't all seated together.  The theatre, however, was well designed to
accommodate people with physical disabilities.  The entrance leads directly to
a wide aisle behind the first six rows of seats.  This aisle is called row
"G"
and it had eight or ten stacking chairs in it for those who wanted to transfer
or who were using walkers & suchlike.  I noticed a couple of older people with
wheelchairs there... plus one with a walker & others with canes.

          We'd been assigned one seat in row "G" and two in row
"H".  They are all numbered seats.  Nora wanted to transfer &
this is a recommended procedure for people who are able to do so.  She can
walk a short distance & climb a few stairs with help, and since the
stacking chairs didn't provide the support she needs I sat in row
"G" while Nora & Dallas sat in row "H".  Another
woman who was in row "H" asked me to move "that
thing".... meaning Nora's wheelchair.  I asked who else she thought I
should put it in front of, and she didn't answer. She just ordered me to
get "that thing" out of her sight.  So I asked again... at which
point her male companion said I could put it in front of him.  Later, one
of the organizers noticed that Nora was sitting in row "H" and
asked us if we'd like to sit together a little further along the same row. 
We moved... we also moved the wheelchair.  And in due course this woman
& her companion moved to the opposite side of the theatre, some ten or
twelve rows back.

          Now, what I'd like to know is... who would sit in an area
designated for wheelchairs & whatnot if they're so disturbed by the
sight of these things they can't bear to call them by name?  People like
one of my former colleagues who sat beside an open window & slammed it
shut without asking if anybody else wanted it shut, I guess... or like
those who sit in the smoking section of the neighbourhood pub, the hospital
patio, etc. & then expect everybody to refrain from smoking!  If
they're asked a direct question like "Why are you sitting in
such-and-such location if you feel that way?" they don't have an
answer.  They think I'm a Big Meanie... just as this woman did.  IMHO I got
the answer I was seeking, although she didn't answer directly.  Whose
comfort matters less than hers??  Everybody's.  Her male companion may buy
into that notion because he's afraid to fight with her.  I'm not.  And I
want Nora to know the world doesn't revolve around such people even if they
would prefer to believe it does.  Such people also make me appreciate even
more the ones who behave differently.  The next afternoon we went to a
panto at an older theatre, where wheelchairs go on the ends of alternate
rows.  When I heard the man at the end of the row behind us say something
about Nora's flagpole... which was sticking up an inch or two from the back
of the wheelchair... I offered to remove it.  This man wasn't at all
bothered by it, however, and I'm very grateful to people like him....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+