“’What happened to you?’ ‘Were you born like this or did something happen to you?’ ‘Why are you in a wheelchair?’ ‘Why do you use a cane?’ Or my personal favourite, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ If I had a dime for every time a stranger asked me this question the past eight years, I’d be a wealthy woman.
“Don’t be that person.
“You may think your question is innocuous but do you realize you are the ninth person to ask that question this week, maybe even today?
“Disabled people are not museum exhibits. We don’t owe strangers and curious people our time and energy… I have one friend who says that she likes it when people ask her, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ because she views it as a teachable moment. But I ain’t Oprah.”
“Disabled people are not Marvel comics characters; they don’t owe you their origin stories.”
Jessica Gimeno – Stop Asking Disabled People What Happened to You , 2018
Jessica is an American public speaker and writer. She’s on twitter @JessicaGimeno, find her there or at her website jessicagimeno.com.
The essay her quote comes from is here – Stop Asking Disabled People What Happened to You.
What Happened to You? 