Is This a Freak Show?                                                  

After 28 years of being in a wheelchair, people
staring at me still bothers me.  I'm talking about
the eyes popping out of the head, mouth hanging 
open stare.  It doesn't happen very often, but it 
does happen.  Do these people live in a closet and 
am I the first person in a wheelchair they've ever
seen?  It's like they cannot believe what they
are seeing, and they simply can't take their eyes 
off of me.

I'm sure this staring thing is going to get 10 billion
times worse when I'm in the iBOT in balance mode,
or when I'm going up or down stairs.  I  think  it
won't bother me so much though as this is some-
thing I might stare at myself.  Okay, I wouldn't
stare, because that's rude, but I would be curious,
and I would want to check it out.  Still... I'm pretty
sure I'd give the person a break and I would turn
away and go about my business.   I'm the kind of person
who would like to blend in with the crowd, but I know
there are a whole lot of "look at me!" people, and those
"look at me!" people don't seem to understand there
are people who don't want attention.  BUT, being that
there are very few iBOTS out there, I suppose I can't
blame them for looking.  I just hope they try to keep
their eyeballs in their head and their jaws off the floor.