{rant}
Stupid rant, I don’t care, I’m just annoyed. I mean, I deal with flavors of this kind of behavior figuratively (I’m using “figuratively” to mean “literally” as to not confuse anyone because of the recent language changes being made ;)) every single day, but I had the proverbial straw break my proverbial back. This really wasn’t anything bad natured, mean, unkind or anything, so please bear with me. This was more of a cumulative reaction I had more than the individual experience itself.
Anyway, I visited my new dentist for the first time last week. Now, everywhere I go, I am accustomed to people being very, idk, hovering and wanting to help me in any way they can and just whatever. I’m used to it, it happens everywhere. I just firmly, friendly and confidently let whoever know that I am more than capable of handling whatever it is I am doing (getting into the dentist’s chair, for example) but thank you. This more than usually proceeds unhindered. Well, when I was going to get into the dental chair at the beginning of my appointment, I was approached (quite closesly, I might add, a bit too close for my comfort) by the dental hygienist and asked if I needed some help. Rather than waste time by stopping and answering her, I just hopped into the seat and looked up and smiled and said, “no thanks”. “Wow, good job!” “You got it!” My eyes glazed over at that point because that’s my only real healthy? reaction when people start to treat me like a ten year old who did an extra good job cleaning his room. 
Because that happens more than most people would think.
Fast forward to the end of my appointment and this hygienist rolls my chair back to the spot where I direct her next to the dental chair. Again, she asks me if she can help me, but before I could even say anything, she goes on to tell me how she was pretty familiar with wheelchairs and how they were used and stuff, as she’s helped people in the past and even now. The person she has gleaned all of her wheelchair users abilities, needs/problems from had come from her 83-year old grandmother who, due to old age, had become stricken to a wheelchair over the past several years. So she “knew what I probably would need help with”. :dubious:
Now, this sort of just ridiculous, well-intentioned but no less disheartening, offensive and just deflating view of wheelchair-users is just so commonplace it makes me think that the actual human body sitting in that chair is completely interchangeable. As is the level of actual disability. The one constant is the wheelchair and that is all that a large, large swath of the population sees.
*One thing I should mention is I’m not talking about the general public being somehow able to know the physical capabilities of one wheelchair user over another. I understand that most people have no experience whatsoever with spinal cord injury and wheelchair users and I wouldn’t expect such informed knowledge just by looking at me. What I am saying is that, just like you wouldn’t say that because you married a black man and lived together for ten years and got to know his behaviors, intelligence and trustworthiness, that you know the behaviors, intelligence and trustworthiness of all black men; you wouldn’t say that because you cared for your geriatric grandmother who became bound to a wheelchair, and became familiar with her abilities, problems, needs and limitations, that you know, understand and are familiar with the abilities, problems, needs and limitations of everyone who uses a wheelchair.
{rant}
