It was as honest question. The young man seemed genuinely confused, blushing as I kicked my feet against the wheelchair's foot-rest to demonstrate that I was indeed able to move.
The preceding parts of the conversation had been unremarkable. The usual small talk as he helped me fill out the university enrollment forms, until he asked when I'd had my accident and I replied that I hadn't had one. I guess he thought that breaking your back was the only way to end up in a wheelchair.
Not that that particular young man was unusual, except in voicing his thought where most stayed silent. A young and healthy-looking twenty-something female in a wheelchair is always assumed to be paralysed.
I reeled off the rest of my much-rehearsed explanation to him, "I'm not paralysed, I just have a disease that makes me weak and means I get tired quick when I have to stand up. Just pretend I'm a ninety-year-old woman and it'll make more sense." He looked relieved that I hadn't taken offence, obediently grinning at my joke. I moved on to the next table, hoping the whole university enrollment wouldn't take too long this year.
Not all people who use wheelchairs have had a spinal cord injury. Not all people who use wheelchairs, use wheelchairs all the time. Not all people who use wheelchairs are unable to walk.
Wheelchairs are simply devices that people use because walking is difficult, painful, or impossible over short or long distances. Have you ever been in hospital and put in a wheelchair because you were weak after an operation, or woozy from pain-killers? Those are two good reasons that a wheelchair can be used.
There are disorders, including MS and CFS, which have severe fatigue as a symptom. A person with one of these disorders may walk when they're at home or only going a short distance, but use a wheelchair for long trips or when they aren't sure how much walking will be involved. Many elderly people also use wheelchairs like this.
Those with severe back or leg trouble may be able to walk only with extreme pain. Using a wheelchair may mean that they can around more easily, get out of the house more often, or even reduce their level of pain medications. I have several friends who use a wheelchair primarily because they are in pain, and they have particular trouble: One woman has a disorder that makes it extremely painful for anything to touch her legs, and was forced to build a mental cage to go around her legs and feet when in her wheelchair because people ran into her so often, assuming that she was paralysed and had no feeling in her feet.
With other disabilities, people may loose their balance and their sense of where their limbs are in relation to the rest of them. These people may be able to walk, but only with a lot of concentration and effort and only on fairly flat ground. They may use a wheelchair when they want to go out on a fun outing and not have to concentrate on where to put every footstep.
I have a friend with cerebral palsy who is able to walk, but it takes concentration and a little luck for him not to fall over frequently. He uses a wheelchair to get around the city, especially when there are lots of people around, because it's quicker and easier and he'd rather use his energy for useful things instead of just for walking.
The first time my own friends took me around the city in my new wheelchair I was amazed to notice shop windows, buildings, signs, and a myriad of other things that I'd never noticed in the city before. Eventually I realized that every other time I've been in the city I'm too busy figuring out where to put my feet and where the next safe place to rest is, that I never get to see anything but the ground in front of me!
So next time you see a person using a wheelchair, remember that you probably have very little idea of why they're using it. You can't judge what somebody feels or what they are capable of just by the fact that they are sitting down.
