My fiance and I both have disabilities, and are 24 (me) and 25 (him) years old-he has Traumatic Brain Injury and is paralyzed on one side of his body, but can walk; I have Apert Syndrome and use a wheelchair due to limited mobility and balance control issues, but can walk some distances wth a quad cane/reverse walker, if someone else is with me in case I suddenly fall (which happens, but someone is always there to keep me standing up). Anyway, Dan and I have loved Disney World, as it was his first time to visit this year (his second time next month), and my 12th time since I was 6 years old.
I've always loved Disney World since I was a little girl, and since my mom attends a veterinary conference every year in Orlando, I usually get to go along for the trip with my caregiver, or one of my friends while she attends the meetings. What happened this year, was a complete shock to both of us (Dan and me), and nearly set Dan off. He's a good guy, but if someone comes after me, or says something about me, he instanly goes into "Defense Mode".
Dan loves to push me around Disney World in my manual wheelchair. It has a stroller bar on the back that snaps in and out of the handles since my wheelchair is a Quickie 2 ultralightweight, when it needs to be folded up for transport, and it has been perfect for him since he has use of only his left arm and hand.
Anyway, what happened was when Dan, my mom and I were at the Magic Kingdom waiting to go on "It's A Small World". My mom had some time off from attending meetings, and wanted to spend the day with us. Anyway, while we were waiting for the wheelchair boat to come around, a mother with her 2 kids were waiting on the opposite side when the mother looks at my mom and says loudly to her kids, "Look kids, that's what'll happen if a mother does drugs twice. She'll pay the price and wind up with two retarded kids." Oh, was Dan and my mom mad!! But, there was nothing they could do about it, because the woman and her two kids had already gotten into the boat and were heading out.
Obviously, she thought I was brain-damaged like Dan is (although he's mildly brain-damaged, but is highly normal-functioning). That's why I was in the wheelchair. But, that wasn't the case at all. The reason why I was using a wheelchair, was entirely different from those that may use one, due to brain damage in some way.
Dan and I had another "bout" of shock when it was just us (my mom was attending a meeting) on the same day, and we were eating lunch at Pizza Planet, at MGM Studios. At the table next to us, sat a family of 4 kids, a mom and a dad. The 4 kids were all making fun of Dan and me by rolling their heads and eyes around, and sticking their tongues out. I have a headrest on my manual wheelchair, and with Dan's obvious physical disability, they obviously were thinking that we both were "brain damaged" and had CP because we had no control over our bodies (although Dan has control of some movements to his body, but I can't support myself in a sitting position due to my scoliosis). Their parents did nothing to stop them-they just looked away and pretended nothing happened. It did set Dan off though, and he got after those kids so bad, they were sorry they had made fun of us after that. Their parents, however yelled at us for coming after their kids, saying we should be supervised by a responsible, mature adult, and that we belong in an isolated group home.
Oooh, I felt like shouting at the top of my lungs, "See how you would feel if your two kids were like us", but didn't. Some people just don't understand what it's like to be in our shoes, unless they've "been there" and "done that", like my mom and Dan's mom has with Dan and me. My mom had to cope with all of the 44 surgeries that I've had, both financially and emotionally, and there were times that weren't easy for her, especially with being a single parent. Today, she still has to deal with it, especially since I need specialized health care treatment from the doctors at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and only her healthcare insurance would be able to provide for the coverage of the medical care I need at Mayo.
Samantha
girl!
