Good people, when you pass a handicapped person in a mall or on the street do you ignore them or do you try to

Question

help them out, like with money or a kind word of encouragement. I am talking about people in wheelchairs. Thank you.

Answer 1

I smile and say hello. I work as a therapist and see people in wheelchairs everyday. It doesn't phase me that are in wheelchairs. They are just people like you and me. Don't treat them any differently.

They don't want you to give them money just because they are in wheelchairs. They are not begging on the street. They would take great offense to that. They don't like to be stared at. They don't mind if you have questions. They like it if you treat them just like if you treated everyone else. No differently. Some may have just a sprained ankle. Some may have MS. Everyone, wheelchair or no wheelchair would love to have words of encouragement and kind words.

Answer 2

Just because someone is in a wheelchair does not mean that they lack money or need encouragement. Some people with disabilities would be very insulted if they were treated this way.

If someone were in a wheelchair and was trying to reach something higher than they could reach without help then yes I would definitely assist them.

If someone was holding a homeless sign I may offer to get them some food or point them in the direction of some day work but I would not give them money.

I use to live in a very urban historical city and on Sunday mornings I would take early morning walks and quite often see homeless people sitting around or sleeping on benches. I would bring peanut butter sandwhiches with me and pass them out to these people if they wanted them.

Answer 3

I actually don't treat them differently at all.If a handicapped person is in need of assistance I will try to accommodate them.I certainly don't give them money!
Most handicapped or disabled people want to be treated like everyone else.Sometimes they've been babied so much that it makes them irate to be treated differently or like they're needy.I have first hand knowledge of this scenario because I was injured very badly in Sept 2005.I suffered amputations of all of my toes and partial paralysis of my left leg(those symptoms have subsided 100% but I obviously never grew my toes back).
Now when people try TOO hard to be helpful I sometimes snap at them.I spent too long being unable to help myself.
Now I do everything for myself and lift weights again.I'll help ANY decent person the same as I would the next.

Answer 4

If I were a handicapped person, I would want to be treated completely normally, just like anybody else. I wouldn't want handouts or pity (though neither would I like meanness). I would want to be treated as a fully competent person in all respects other than the way in which I were clearly not competent. So that's how I treat handicapped people. I try to treat them just like everybody else, except for in cases such as if there's door that's tough to open or something, I'll hold it open for somebody in a wheelchair or on crutches.

Answer 5

I'm not sure wheelchair-bound people want money or words of encouragement. If it is obvious that a person is impoverished, than giving money is a very kind thing to do. But I wouldn't assume that is the case.

Answer 6

That would be demeaning to the handicapped person , I'm sure, to give them money or something like they are a transient beggar. Handicapped people do not want pity, or to be looked down as less fortunate. I would, however, be polite to anyone who needed help, handicapped or not, if they needed the door held open or what ever.

Answer 7

Well that depends. I have helped a person in a grocery store reach a frozen food because I was asked.
But if you just give money to someone because that someone is in a wheelchair, it seems pretty insulting.
Helping is the right thing to do, of course, just make sure you're really helping.

Answer 8

Just because someone is in a wheelchair doesn't mean they need your encouragement or handout. Many, many handicapped people are self-supporting and fulfilled people. I treat them just like I would anyone else.

Answer 9

I think they would prefer to be ignored in general, rather than being treated as something different and pitiful. If they are in an obvious distress situation they could want some assistance (like last winter when one sidewalk was not cleared very well and there was a guy in a wheel chair that appreciated being helped get past the rough part). In general I think it freaks them out if people think they can't do things on their own.

Answer 10

Being handicapped doesn't mean they are poor or not capable of taking care of themselves. The general rule, is like all of us they have pride in their independence, to give them money could embarass them. Help is as easy as being consious of them. If they are trying to move about in tight spaces.You can move easier so make room for them. Hold a door for them &as you do speak to them. know.Here let me hold the door & acknowledge there Thank you. That lets them know you recognize as a person.