If you’re a little different than most people, be it for what ever reason, there will be situations you will encounter in which things are extremely awkward. With my disability , I definitely come across occasions in which my disability causes unwarranted attention and confusion. I decided I would share some of these occasions with you.

1) What Happened?

I was at a party once, a stranger walked in , looked at me and said “Oh good God !What happened to YOU?!?”As I understand ,this was just a concerned human trying to demonstrate some sympathy. However, I did just have crutches with me . It’s not like I was plastered from head to toe and completely bed-bound! I was chilling at a party, not writhing around on the floor in agony! I just thought it was such a bizarre over-reaction and it really made me think of the spectrum of people and how they choose to react to disability.

2) I’m So Sorry

This is the most confusing reaction to my explanation of the crutches. People will meet me for the first time, and ask the perfectly acceptable question ” How did you break your leg?” I’ll shrug it off and answer politely “Oh , I was born like this.” Judging by many peoples’ reactions to my answer, I’m convinced this is what they really heard;

“Well, funny you should ask, It’s quite the story. I was backpacking through the Himalayas when I decided to do a bit of free-style Parcour. I was just about finished when my baby toe slipped and I fell foot first on to a snow leopard . My fall startled it and it galloped away ,me still on it’s back , clinging on for dear life. He dragged me through the rocky climate and finally, he jolted , catapulting me about a half mile in the sky only to land on my already mangled leg.All in all,I got away in pretty good shape.”

But no, this is not the story I tell them. I simply answer by ” I was born like this.”They seem to think, however, that this is the worst POSSIBLE thing that could have happened and almost always answer with “Oh, I’m so sorry” as if they have deathly offended me. To me, I don’t see how asking someone who disabled from birth or disabled from an accident is any less polite .It’s very perplexing!

3) Unnecessary Praise

These are the people who feel the need to praise me for my “achievements” such as getting out of the bed or house. It usually comes in the form of “Aren’t you great!” .Thanks! .. I mean, I did just get up and go outside like you, I didn’t cure world hunger!

Just because I’m disabled , I haven’t completely given up and that comes as quite the shock to some people.Maybe it’s unusual to see someone with a disability embracing life so much as to venture outside, but really, people do it every day and it shouldn’t really be something to be marveled at.

4) Just Because You’re on Crutches……

The opposite to the over-admiration are the people who like to let me know that my achievements are down to people having sympathy for me and not actually anything to do with hard work or talent.

I’ve had this experience in both academic life and professional when people begrudge you the happiness of actually doing well by cutting you back down because they feel threatened. It’s one of the most inane concepts to me in this day and age that someone can not comprehend that the fact I did well in that assignment or that work task was not because of the sticks of metal which aid me to walk, in fact , if anything it’s more of an obstacle to getting stuff done.

It’s not like figures of authority are going to say , “Well she failed the hell out of that test but hey! she has crutches ! A+ it is!”. The world just doesn’t work like that and I definitely am aware that if you want something , you have to work at it.

Sincerely speaking, in 99.9% of cases, people are polite , lovely and concerned and for the most part they know how to act around someone with a disability , but maybe this post will help people who are guilty of doing /saying these things to realize how silly is seems.