I am in a
wheelchair. This makes it very noticeable that I am
handicapped (
disabled,
crippled, whatever...). Because of this I encounter a lot of other disabled people that stop and talk to me in public even though we have never met. I really don't mind talking to them and sometimes it can be
interesting.
The best example of this happened while I was riding on
MARTA in my hometown of
Atlanta, Georgia. I was riding home on the train after a day of
work and
class and I was approached by a
girl that looked to be somewhere between 20 and 30 years of age (I'm not good with ages). She was obviously
mentally handicapped and had some mild accompanying physical
deformities.
She said hello and we exchanged the
prerequisite small talk that people engage in on the afternoon train. Then she proceeded to explain to me that she had written a song. Out of
curiousity I asked about the song. She said it was titled "
Disabled, but able to rock!". She made this statement with
gusto. Then she continued to explain that she was going to make a
music video for when the song became
popular. Just my luck, she had the perfect part for me in the video, or so she said. She began to sing a
verse of the song and when she got to the chorus she stopped and said this is when I would come in and pop a wheelie right before the singer says "Disabled, but able to rock". Then we came to my stop and I
rolled on to my apartment.
At first, I was a little weirded out by the situation. After I thought about it, I realized it was really cool. I started to wonder what it must be like to have such
vivid dreams about what you want to accomplish. Then I realized I have the same kind of thoughts during the day but I am not brave enough to express them with
perfect strangers. I started to appreciate what the girl had said and since then I have made a concious effort to be more open with my dreams and ideas.