After learning that I would not be able to take the shuttle over to pick up the rental car I had to go back across to the airport sidewalk to wait to be picked up. To do this I would have to push uphill across a busy street, but no worries there was a police officer directing traffic, and then up the curb cut on the other side. I checked it all out before pushing off and determined that the street was no problem but the curb cut on the other side was steep. Even so, I was confident and pushed on to the street when the traffic was stopped and headed over.
I made it across quickly and then was working hard at pushing myself up the curb cut. It was, as I predicted, hard pushing, but it also was, as I’d also predicted, doable. I was just nearing the top, I was bent right over and about to swing back when suddenly my chair was grabbed, from behind, and I was pushed, hard, up the rest of the way. This caused me to fly back in my chair, snapping my neck as I flew back and my arms flung out.
Just before swearing at the person who’d pushed me, the person who’d HURT me I noticed that it was the police officer. I said, because I had to say something, I was hurt and angry. That the push had hurt me and that he should always ask before pushing and that what he’d done was dangerous. I don’t think he registered anything but the fact that I was ungrateful.
Disabled people have bodies. Our bodies react to being pushed, or startled, or both and often pain results. It’s days later and my shoulders are still hurting and my neck complains when I lay down to sleep.
I don’t know what to do about this. I don’t know how to get heard. Those who read this blog are already sensitized to this issue but how do we get passed the barrier between disabled and non-disabled? Why can they always hear ‘thank you,’ they are in love with our gratitude, but they can’t hear even a simple, reasonable request. DON’T FUCKING HURT ME.
