When you are disabled, you don't have very many friends, like "normal" people do. It takes a very, very special person who is willing to take the time to listen. And these special kinds of people are very few and far between. And what in the world does a wheelchair or braces or a pair of canes do that people have to stare? That is just our way of getting around. We are not on display. It would be much nicer and kinder if the person would hold the door open to make it easier for the disabled person, who is in a wheelchair to get in the store. Or if somebody is on canes and might need a little help getting on the sidewalk, lend them a hand and quit staring.
Mankind makes it very hard for the disabled to get around. A lot of stores and malls do not have electronic doors. When contractors make a driveway, they make the curb so high that the wheelchair cannot get over it, unless an able-bodied person is there to help them. Able-bodied people park in handicapped parking spaces, never thinking just maybe a disabled person might need that special place. Some people are always parking their cars and trucks over the sidewalk. They don't stop and think that just maybe a blind person could be walking on the sidewalk and really hurt themselves not to be able to see. And the person in the wheelchair cannot go around the car or truck, instead they have to turn around and try to find a driveway to go down and this forces them to go into the busy street. If the able-bodied person would only take the time to think. Cars and trucks belong on the street, not blocking the sidewalk.
And then when somebody speaks to a disabled person they think that
they have to bend over and yell in their ear, or talk real slow. And
that is when I feel like saying, "I'm not deaf, and I can hear you just
fine."
I usually put my hand over my ear, until I can get away from the person.