Monday, October 06, 2008

Here we go again...

This past Friday I had the most interesting outing with Lars yet. We had entered Natick mall and he was fussing. I pulled over the edge of the aisle as to not be right out in the middle of everything. The first thing I wanted to do was see if his belly needed venting. Now, for me this is an everyday occurance but I can understand how it might seem like something interesting to others. However, there are ways to be polite and act like you have been in public before. I pull out a large syringe and connect his G-tube. A woman, maybe 50 or 60 years old, walked over to us. She stood about a foot from Lars and me and stared...I'm not even sure she was blinking. After a few cc's of air were succesfully sucked out, Lars felt much better and had calmed down. The lady? Still there, staring. I was unsure of what to say or what her deal was. Finally I told her to have a nice day and pushed Lars in the other direction.
Moral of the story????
When you see a child with disabilities, don't just stand there and stare like it is a science exibit. They are a person. Maybe they aren't like you or anyone you know, but they are a person in the world, too. If you really are curious, talk to them. Say hi, even if you don't think that they can talk back. You might just meet the most amazing person ever. That's who I met in Lars.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Excellent chance to do a little educating! Hopefully you used the opportunity to share your knowledge with someone who was unaware of what was going on. "From your look, I can see you have some questions. Is there something I can explain to you?" would have gone miles in making one more person knowledgeable and perhaps more accepting.