I am 46 years old, and I have fibromyalgia. I use a wheelchair to get around due to the pain and fatigue I experience when I walk about. The one thing that has always struck me is that as soon as I get into my wheelchair, people seem to treat me very differently than when I am out of it. Why is this? Is it because they are uncomfortable with their own pre-conceptions about me or is it actually because my brain loses the ability to function normally as soon as I sit down???
People, I am the same person and it would be really good if you could find it in your heart to treat me with the same respect that hyou would any other person you meet in the street, shop etc.
I wonder, when you see me in the street, what do you see first - the chair? or me, the person using it?
When I pay for things in my wheelchair, people make me feel like I am 5 years old and mummy is letting me be a big boy by handing the money over.
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