A question for Dopers in wheelchairs

I am pretty much housebound and can manage only very short distances on crutches, but I have so far resisted advice to get one of those electronic wheelchairs, so I’m dependent on taxis/lifts to get around. I can’t get a driving licence, as I also have epilepsy, so I’m nervous about trying out those powered chairs, scooters, whatever.

The things I dislike most are

shop assistants who giggle and make audible coments about me being drunk if I lose my balance and have to grab something to steady myself.

Officials [particularly in the bank] who try to discuss MY business with my daughter, and ignore me sitting there.

Although I’m a Buddhist, I’ve pretty much stopped making the effort of going to meetings - I don’t know how many times people there, who should know better, have commented on my continuing disability being due to my lack of faith, weak faith, whatever.

Before my husband died suddenly, when I was 45, we had a car, got out a lot, and had a pretty normal life. A lot of my so called friends melted away afterwards, though, when I was stuck in the house and they would have had to actually come to visit me. I guess I learned the hard way not to depend on other people.

ZombiesAteMyBrain: I can’t imagine members of a Buddhist group going on about lack of faith. Yuck!

We have several people in ours who have been disabled all or most of their lives, mostly through polio, and several others who have acquired varying degrees of disability through accidents. No one would even dream of saying such a thing, or much of anything else, unless the subject’s brought up by the disabled person. A disability is a pain in the ass of the person who has it, but definitely not a conversation piece.

I’d say find another group. And if you’re ever in Houston, stop in.

That’s another thing. People totally don’t look where they’re going. I know I’m low, so I’m little out of their line of sight, but still I’m amazed at how many people are walking around without actually looking where they’re going. I try to stop, get their attention, and/or get out of the way, but I’ve still had people blunder into me, fall over me, or at least stop short with a look of shock on their face and exclaim, “I didn’t see you there!” Yeah, well, try looking straight ahead when you walk, not behind you or beside you or at whatever you’re carrying. But of course it’s the person in the motorized vehicle who gets the blame if a pedestrian gets hurt, even if it’s they’re fault they weren’t looking where they were walking.