Teach the children

I miss walking. I miss not having parents pull their children away from me. I can never figure out if they are expecting that I will run them over, or if they are worried that their kids will hurt me somehow. I understand not wanting people to get in the way of people moving in general, but I'm not anymore out of control than a person walking and I'm not more likely to run a child over than someone else. Actually, I'm less likely, because I'm at their level, and I'll notice them.

I often see kids ask their parents questions and their parents quickly shush them. I get it, we don't want children to point out differences of every person that they see. It's likely to lead to issues later. There's one problem, if they never get the answers, then they grow up afraid of people with disabilities. There's also the problem that parents don't necessarily know the answers either. I would rather have parents or children ask me a question and learn and grow more tolerant, than have them stay afraid.

Ask. Ask respectfully and I'll answer.