Happy Effing Halloween (profanity involved)
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT -
For all those who feel a little bit uncomfortable when you see someone in a wheelchair and don't want to stare: Just look at them and do whatever you'd do with someone else whose legs were making them move around. Don't avert your gaze, or be awkward, or try hard. Just treat them like a person. They are a person. Just like you. Nothing prepared them for a wheelchair -- just like nothing has prepared you for a wheelchair if you end up in one at 10 am tomorrow.
Don't be a condescending douchebag.
Bear with me. I'm still a little pissed about our Halloween trick or treating experience. Here's the deal: My kid's legs don't work (see right).
And here's the story, if you're in interested: My kids were having a great time, getting way too much candy, then third-to-last house on the route, the kids all said "trick or treat" (it took me years to get them to all say it when the person opens the door, then said "thank you" and / or "happy halloween" at some point), then my rosy-cheeked nine year-old son Stephen happily followed up with, "Trick or treat!" again -- because she didn't notice him, since he couldn't get to onto her porch because of his wheelchair. (Which, by the way, this is the first year he's had the new motorized one and I couldn't even keep up, such a