I have been visibly disabled—even if it is just part time—for only a short time. But one thing that I have learned in that time is how much disabled people are infantilized.
The first time I experienced this was not long after I started using a wheelchair.
A little less than 2 years ago, I helped organize a counterprotest in response to a rally organized by some transphobic activists.
Because I cannot stand for long periods anymore, I attended in my wheelchair. I was with a handful of counterprotestors, all of us with signs, banners, and whatnot. Everyone except for me were standing.
At one point, one of the activists involved in the transphobic rally came over to our group and rather than address our group as a whole, directed his comments to me.
In all the other times I have been a counterprotestor, I have had that happen to me only one other time, back in 2018, when I was the only counterprotestor to show up. All the other times, comments were always addressed to us as a group.
It felt like I was targeted specifically in this instance, as if I would be an easy target. Because I am in a wheelchair, and disabled to able-bodied people often equals weak or incompetent.
This experience and several others since then have opened up my eyes.
