Purple Wheelchair
the K Chronicles: “Purple Wheelchair”
The Official K Chronicles and (Th)ink Website
Humorous comics, often with political overtones. The official K Chronicles and (th)ink website by cartoonist Keith Knight!
the K Chronicles: “Purple Wheelchair”
Nobody else has commented so far. I wonder if they’re all having the same reaction I did. A reaction of “Wow, what a stunning moment for a young kid to have to come face to face with the fact that the world can sometimes be a really…tough…place.”
A friend of mine who uses a wheelchair tells a story of being in downtown San Francisco where she saw a young child point at a pregnant woman and babble questions. His mom patiently provided age-appropriate answers. Then the kid came up to my friend and started another question round. Mom yanked him away and told him to stop being rude.
So thank you for teaching ICOB right away that people with disabilities aren’t to be feared, that they’re as natural a part of society as anyone else, down to their preferences for a purple wheelchair over a pink or green one. I’m sure the encounter made the young woman’s day. (And I’m buying a print when the next paycheck comes in…)
Is that the moment when he realizes that SHE has arms but he doesn’t? (sorry, he really doesn’t have any arms!)… At the center where my son goes for play therapy and speech therapy there are SOOO many permutations of assisted mobility vehicles… tricycles, quads, wheelchairs electric and not, all different colors and shapes and sizes, belonging to kids of every age and ability… and there is a room with a whole slew of them parked… my kid is just in awe: look mommy! so COOL! He just asks questions and gets answers. We have an assisted living facility and highrise down our street too, so he has always seen and chatted with adults with wheelchairs. Oh, and then there is the Robert Munsch book “Zoom” which my kid loves. http://robertmunsch.com/zoom/ Good stuff.
This is one of these moment when a kid starts to see the world very different from what they are used to viewing in their environment. We as parent have a responsibility to educate are children that we are all different and should be respected and treated with kindness.
Keef, You make us laugh and you make us cry.
very very sweet cartoon.
thanks Keef, I needed that.
I used to be the caretaker for a kid w/ cerebral palsy. I took him to the park in his wheelchair one day and ran into a bunch of little kids (around 8 or 9 yrs old) who were there on a school trip.
I was just putting him into the van and the kids were in the parking lot getting ready to leave also. They had the same reaction as your son: stunned silence. I explained to them the same thing: he can’t speak, but he can hear you. And started putting him into the van w/ this electric platform. The kids just stared and stared, while I spoke to them in a totally normal way about the whole thing. Even saying “This is how he gets in and out of the van. Pretty cool, huh?”
Some of the kids were just about to respond when their teacher arrived. Totally scared and horrified, she whisked the kids into the bus and looked at me w/ disgust, as if I’d just flashed them or something! What a pity to lose the opportunity for a very strong teachable moment.