My family recently just took our summer vacation in Orlando Florida, spending a day at Universal Studios and a day at Disney World. My dear sister, Jenny, is too weak to walk around theme parks both days, so we packed a wheelchair and wheeled her around Universal Studios for a day. People say you're treated differently when you are blind, deformed, or have something visibly wrong with you. As we were driving to Universal Studios that morning, I was wondering if she would be treated differently. Jenny doesn't look sick so surely people wouldn't treat her any differently. Boy was I wrong. Throughout the day, I observed all kinds of reactions to my sister in a wheel chair. Here are just a few of my favorites.
1) NOTHING is your fault.
While trying to get into the park, we were all crowded together and it is pretty easy to hit someone with the wheelchair if you're not careful. We accidentally bumped into a lady with the chair and apologized. She gave a half hearted "its ok" then turned around to see who had hit her. As soon as her eyes hit the chair she turned into an apologizing machine. "Oh it's really my fault! I'm so sorry." with the sweetest smile on her face.
2) You get free things
While going through security to get into the park, the man checking our bags asked my sister what is wrong with her. She told him her heart and he gave her a little trinket made out of purple plastic mardi gras beads twisted to look like a dog. How precious is that?!
3) The "up-down"
While waiting in line for different rides I would see multiple people give Jenny this same look. They would start at her head then look all the way down to her toes, searching for bandages, scars, and deformities. When they didn't see any, some would then give the "what's your deal?!" look which leads us to number 4.
4) You get the "what's your deal?!" look
Because there is nothing visibly wrong with Jen, people thought…well…I don't know what they were thinking. Maybe they thought she was lazy. Anyway, they would give her a disapproving look. It kind of made my sassy little sister side come out and want to tell them off.
5) Pity
In contrast to the "what's your deal?!" look, she would also get the looks of pity. These also tended to come from the ones who apologize profusely for things that aren't their fault or give you things.
