How to Interact With a Wheelchair User

Disabled people prefer their disabilities to be irrelevant as they move about in social situations. Judge the person as if the disability were not present.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Etiquette Book

1. Relax.

2. Smile.

3. Be open-minded in your approach.

4. Remember most people using wheelchairs are not chronically ill.

5. Offer to shake hands. If the person cannot, you'll be greeted in another fashion.

6. Speak directly to the person in the wheelchair rather than to any companion.

7. Look at the person when you talk, rather than at the wheelchair.

8. Sit at the person's level if the conversation will be an extended one.

9. Remember the wheelchair is part of the user's personal space.

10. Understand the person regards the wheelchair in the same way you think about your car: it is simply a tool for mobility.

11. People using wheelchairs realize children are curious. If a child asks a question you feel is embarrassing, don't chastise the child. Let the disabled person handle the situation.

12. A polite offer of help is acceptable if the situation warrants it. For example, many wheelchair users find opening doors awkward.

Tips & Warnings

• It's normal to be curious as to why someone uses a wheelchair, but let the subject come up naturally.
• Colloquialisms like, "I've got to be running along," come naturally to everyone. You'll notice disabled people also use them as part of their routine conversations.
• If you invite a person who uses a wheelchair to accompany you somewhere, check in advance to make sure your destination is accessible.
• "What's wrong with you?" is a question no one wants to hear.
• The wheelchair is not the person.
• A person has a disability rather than being a disabled person - "normal" is not the opposite of "disabled."
• People "use" wheelchairs rather than being "wheelchair-bound" or "confined to a wheelchair."
• If you're curious about the wheelchair itself, ask directly, but remember not to handle it like a car on display at a dealership.

[jp123456789]

on 6/25/2009 Being a wheelchair user, I would like to comment on #'s 8,9, and 10.When a phrase similar to 8 is said, particularly to me, I can't help getting the impression of insensitivity. What is meant by " my level"? Granted, I understand it refers to eye-level, but can't help but over analyze the phrase to mean that I am metaphorically at a lower level, for example in intelligence and physical abilities.

Concerning 9-10, not only do I feel that my chair is my personal space nor simply a tool for mobility, but that it is actually an extension of my own body, while not technically being a part of it, in much the same manner of an artificial limb. Simply put, my wheelchair is my legs.

[woot]

on 2/24/2009 My mother used a wheel chair for many years. It was only through watching what she experienced that I began to realize that the most important way to deal with wheelchair users is to assume that they are intelligent, fully conscious adults until proven otherwise.

[agentamerica]

on 1/30/2009 That is a great tip on getting to the person's eye level when speaking to them. It is very frustrating for them to always have people looking down on them. It really puts them on a level of equality when they can see (literally) eye-to-eye.

on 2/22/2006 Please don't pity a wheelchair user. Many times our lives are just as complete as yours, and sometimes even better. Feel free to ask questions, we like to educate.

on 2/6/2006 Wheelchair users are individuals and each one is able to do different things. Some can mountain bike, scuba dive, fly airplanes, drive cars, snow ski, water ski, live alone, have babies, travel, and do just about anything a non-wheelchair user can do. The list is endless on what a wheelchair user can or cannot do and be. So to ask how should they be treated; treat them as an individual. Don't assume they can't do anything. Communicate. Asking how to treat a wheelchair person is an assumption that we are different.