Dorian – What’s the hardest part about having a disabled family member?

That hardest part is when new people come around.  Sometimes our children may not feel like rehashing the disability, injury, how it came about, and the highs and the lows.  They might not feel like that.  They just want to be accepted, and often times, new people really want to know, “What happened?  How did you get that way?”  I think that’s the hardest part, to have to navigate that.  We just moved, and I’m kind of having to navigate the neighbors asking, “What happened?”  My son doesn’t really want re-live that.  He wants to put it behind him and say, “I’m in a chair now, that’s how you meet me today.  I’m here in this chair, so that’s how you accept me.  Don’t worry about what happened.  Just take me now, or not.”  I think that’s the hardest part, new people.