Of course YOU can’t see me. You’re reading my blog, but you can’t see me while you’re doing it. It’s a question I was asking a lot today.
We got to church, and I was pleased to see a handicapped space open right near the church. What I wasn’t happy to see was the car illegally parked in the walkway between the two handicapped spaces – the walkway I was supposed to use with my walker. What was worse was that the car had pulled up onto the sidewalk, so there was no way I could get to the lowered curb. I would have to face one of my biggest fears and climb a curb while using my cane. That’s how I’ve gotten some of my worst falls. With help, I navigated the curb and made it to the restroom, where I had to wait since the only stall in use was the handicapped stall. I wish I could say that’s the first time that happened.
I ended up going to two services that day – one while my children were at Sunday School, and one where they were recognized for completing a workshop. At each service, people would pass the peace – shake hands with the people sitting near them. Most people were standing, but I stayed seated. At both services, I help out my hand to people and was ignored.
Since it was World Communion Sunday, my church gave communion at both services. People would walk up to the front of the church to take communion, but those of us who couldn’t walk that far could just raise our hands to be served in the pews. I was hoping this week wouldn’t be a repeat of the last time communion was served, when they forgot to ask people to raise hands and I hadn’t gotten communion. At the first service, I did get the chance to raise my hand and be served. At the second service, a person sitting near me made a point of letting an elder know that I may need to be served in the pew, and he walked towards me until I told thanked him and said I had taken it at a previous service. So I wasn’t completely invisible.
Is it too much to ask that people pay attention? There’s a reason there’s a space with diagonal stripes between parking places and lower curbs…so that people using wheelchairs and walkers can get from their car to the sidewalk safely. There’s a reason there are bathroom stalls that are a little larger and have grab bars on the walls…so that people who use mobility aids can use them to reach the toilet and can stand up safely after they’re done. FTR, the last time I tried to use a regular stall, I was almost trapped. My 75-year-old mother-in-law almost had to come in to help me up.
I’m here. I’m different. I can deal with that…most of the time. But there are times when I feel like the world has decided I am less of a person. I don’t think I am, but I have to admit there are moments of doubt.
