It seems really weird for the person to say that they want to pray for the person b/c Jesus died for them. Like, okay. But it's not about Jesus healing or something? You don't need to say anything about the wheelchair to evangelize.
"Have you ever seen an overturned wheelchair on the street? You hope it was a miracle, but probably not." But yeah dude, this seems pretty plausible. Stupid people with zero social graces love asking dumb questions. I work in EMS, had someone in the middle of a friendsgiving dinner, no prompting or build up ask me "Hey has anyone ever died in your ambulance?"
I'm a wheelchair user myself and honestly I would much rather have them come up to me and ask me why I'm in a wheelchair than stare at me and make assumptions.
The only thing WORSE is walking to my husband, who stands next to me, and they go to my husband, who stands next to me, and they go like 'its so nice people volunteer and take some time out of their day to spend it with the less fortunate in the world. May I ask, what's wrong with her?' and my husband has to tell them 'actually she's my wife, and you can ask her yourself, it's not contagious. Your attitude on the other hand is.' and then they have so much pity for him because they think he's married me out of guilt or something tragic happened after we got married and he's scared to divorce me. These days I just hate going outside.
One of my neighbors who was confined to a wheelchair said that it was not at all uncommon for people -- total strangers, mind you -- to pat him or pet him, usually on the head or the shoulder. He was like, "I understand that they probably don't actually mean to be PATronizing*, but I'm not a dog."
I've worked with kids with severe disabilities, who are all wheelchair users, for over 20 years now.
This happens all the time. The pity in their tone "awe what's wrong with them?" "It's a shame they're never going to be able to run around like other kids."
Or my absolute favorite "Can we just pray that they'll find a cure together?"
No. Stop touching people. There's no cure for cerebral palsy. They are perfect how they are. They know no other life, they don't need your pity. Treat them like an able-bodied kid.
This is the thing about this story for me: If the story was saying "I want to pray for a cure for you" then I 100% believe the story. But following it up with "Jesus died for your sins" feels weird.
Like, I've had evangelicals randomly walk up to me and say "I want to pray for you because Jesus died for your sins." That's pretty believable.
And I think people in wheelchairs get asked "what happened?" all the time.
But I think it's weird to say, "What happened to you? Can I pray for you because Jesus died for your sins?" because the logical transition is "What happened to you? Can I pray for Jesus to grant you a cure?"
Yeah, I believe the story is over the top, absolutely. The Jesus died for you part was kinda out there. But, you wouldn't believe how brazen people can be towards people in wheelchairs. Like, why am I going to tell you these kid's full medical history??
I took one of my kid's to an appointment a few years ago. I always make sure to stay out of the way, you know, because wheelchairs are big. This lady makes a beeline towards us. We make small talk for a few and then she drops this question "I'm assuming she doesn't go to the bathroom by herself?"
Idk. I could see any of those Christians who feel the need to publicly display that they are holy and devout doing this. I had one of those old men who hand out the little bibles and tell you that “you need to read it cover to cover to save your soul” make an odd remark to me. He was handing them out on my college campus. I was on my way to an exam and made a point to walk on the outer edge of the walkway to not get close to him. People from that particular organization who would come to our campus had a reported history of chasing people to get the last word. So, I wanted to keep my distance. He started approaching me quickly trying to hand me this little bible. There weren’t many other people around, so he was determined to get to me. As he was speed walking up to me, I just said “no thank you” in a calm voice. He then said “I can tell you really needed this. I’ll be praying that God grants you salvation”. Idk what that meant. Maybe he thought I was suffering from a physiological or mental illness and needed to be magically healed? Or maybe he thinks I need spiritual salvation. Like he’s deluded himself that he could sense that I’m doomed to hell? Who knows? But some people who preach on the sidewalk seem to be willing to say and do just about anything.
except if you read the post (which we have to acknowledge is, at best, paraphrasing) rando asks "do you mind..." and the 'hero' responds "no. no you may not."
so although "no" might be an ambiguous response, in this example the speaker was very specific that they were saying "no you may not ask me and here is why".
Hero: no (LITERALLY MEANING "I DON'T MIND") but I mind"
To be strictly fair, "Do you mind if I...?" is a confusing word choice. If you ask, "Do you mind if I sit here?", and the other person says, "No", it is not always 100% clear whether they mean, "No, I don't mind" or "No, you may not sit there."
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Ask any wheelchair user, superstitious freaks do this shit all the time.
That seems super annoying.
Yeah, ableism is bad.
Brother people say this shit to me on the street just because i have piercings. Christians have zero shame or decency.
Praying right now for poor wheelchair guy.
Idk, as someone with a chronic medical condition that limits my mobility, this happens all the time to me.
Asking about it sure but praying to jesus on the spot is where the question comes from I think
Oh I've had people ask me about my condition and then tell me they will pray for me.
It seems really weird for the person to say that they want to pray for the person b/c Jesus died for them. Like, okay. But it's not about Jesus healing or something? You don't need to say anything about the wheelchair to evangelize.
Like most Christians, they’re likely nosy as fuck
Shit like this happens all the time. If you think it doesn’t, you should spend some time with actual disabled people.
Alternatively, if you think this doesn't happen, you haven't been around enough annoyingly religious people.
It does happen, but this story didn't
Why not?
Just go back and read it again. Come on, they're talking like movie characters
"Have you ever seen an overturned wheelchair on the street? You hope it was a miracle, but probably not." But yeah dude, this seems pretty plausible. Stupid people with zero social graces love asking dumb questions. I work in EMS, had someone in the middle of a friendsgiving dinner, no prompting or build up ask me "Hey has anyone ever died in your ambulance?"
I'm a wheelchair user myself and honestly I would much rather have them come up to me and ask me why I'm in a wheelchair than stare at me and make assumptions.
The only thing WORSE is walking to my husband, who stands next to me, and they go to my husband, who stands next to me, and they go like 'its so nice people volunteer and take some time out of their day to spend it with the less fortunate in the world. May I ask, what's wrong with her?' and my husband has to tell them 'actually she's my wife, and you can ask her yourself, it's not contagious. Your attitude on the other hand is.' and then they have so much pity for him because they think he's married me out of guilt or something tragic happened after we got married and he's scared to divorce me. These days I just hate going outside.
As someone who is a PA for a wheelchair user this does happen.
One of my neighbors who was confined to a wheelchair said that it was not at all uncommon for people -- total strangers, mind you -- to pat him or pet him, usually on the head or the shoulder. He was like, "I understand that they probably don't actually mean to be PATronizing*, but I'm not a dog."
*pun intended
This is the famous cat wheelchair lawyer lady. She has quite a history of unhinged posts of things that never happened.
I've worked with kids with severe disabilities, who are all wheelchair users, for over 20 years now.
This happens all the time. The pity in their tone "awe what's wrong with them?" "It's a shame they're never going to be able to run around like other kids."
Or my absolute favorite "Can we just pray that they'll find a cure together?"
No. Stop touching people. There's no cure for cerebral palsy. They are perfect how they are. They know no other life, they don't need your pity. Treat them like an able-bodied kid.
Ok, I'm done ranting now. ✌️
This is the thing about this story for me: If the story was saying "I want to pray for a cure for you" then I 100% believe the story. But following it up with "Jesus died for your sins" feels weird.
Like, I've had evangelicals randomly walk up to me and say "I want to pray for you because Jesus died for your sins." That's pretty believable.
And I think people in wheelchairs get asked "what happened?" all the time.
But I think it's weird to say, "What happened to you? Can I pray for you because Jesus died for your sins?" because the logical transition is "What happened to you? Can I pray for Jesus to grant you a cure?"
Yeah, I believe the story is over the top, absolutely. The Jesus died for you part was kinda out there. But, you wouldn't believe how brazen people can be towards people in wheelchairs. Like, why am I going to tell you these kid's full medical history??
I took one of my kid's to an appointment a few years ago. I always make sure to stay out of the way, you know, because wheelchairs are big. This lady makes a beeline towards us. We make small talk for a few and then she drops this question "I'm assuming she doesn't go to the bathroom by herself?"
Ma'am wtf.
Yeah, again it’s just the combo. I just think these people would follow it up with “can I pray for a cure?”
I had a lady at Disneyland grill me about my son’s disability because she wanted a wagon exception. I completely believe this.
This definitely happens. Alot.
Turns out wheelchair man was in fact, Jesus. Hence getting so mad.
this sounds completely believable
Idk. I could see any of those Christians who feel the need to publicly display that they are holy and devout doing this. I had one of those old men who hand out the little bibles and tell you that “you need to read it cover to cover to save your soul” make an odd remark to me. He was handing them out on my college campus. I was on my way to an exam and made a point to walk on the outer edge of the walkway to not get close to him. People from that particular organization who would come to our campus had a reported history of chasing people to get the last word. So, I wanted to keep my distance. He started approaching me quickly trying to hand me this little bible. There weren’t many other people around, so he was determined to get to me. As he was speed walking up to me, I just said “no thank you” in a calm voice. He then said “I can tell you really needed this. I’ll be praying that God grants you salvation”. Idk what that meant. Maybe he thought I was suffering from a physiological or mental illness and needed to be magically healed? Or maybe he thinks I need spiritual salvation. Like he’s deluded himself that he could sense that I’m doomed to hell? Who knows? But some people who preach on the sidewalk seem to be willing to say and do just about anything.
Rando: do you mind if I ask
Hero: no (LITERALLY MEANING "I DON'T MIND") but I mind
Also, I know a ton of Christians (I am one myself), and we don't just walk up to people, wheelchair or no, and announce that we're gonna pray for 'em.
Ugh.
And I know a ton of Christians who do. Whose anecdotal evidence wins here?
Y'all do. Like, maybe you don't, but your compatriots do, I promise you.
except if you read the post (which we have to acknowledge is, at best, paraphrasing) rando asks "do you mind..." and the 'hero' responds "no. no you may not."
so although "no" might be an ambiguous response, in this example the speaker was very specific that they were saying "no you may not ask me and here is why".
"Rando: do you mind if I ask
Hero: no (LITERALLY MEANING "I DON'T MIND") but I mind"
To be strictly fair, "Do you mind if I...?" is a confusing word choice. If you ask, "Do you mind if I sit here?", and the other person says, "No", it is not always 100% clear whether they mean, "No, I don't mind" or "No, you may not sit there."
I ask if you mind X.
You say no. That means you don't mind X.