Q: How do you see you have been viewed by the dominant or mainstream Canadian society since your accident and how has this evolved over time?
A: Generally most people are quite accepting and genuinely (assumed) nice to me. That said, no-one is totally sheltered, I encounter “ignorance,” on occasion. Specifically from people who don’t know how to and go out of their way not to take the time to interact with me. But perception goes both ways, kid. When people choose to carry on as such I interpret them as possessing a somewhat closed mind. Frankly it has nothing to do with me. It’s their problem, not mine. I can’t control my “perception,” nor would I wish to. All I can hope to do is to change peoples impressions with my innocent charm…
However most times I’m not convinced it is intentional or out of malice. I care to think it is merely a case of not knowing quite how to go about me. I’m an enigma (not really, but totally in peoples eyes I seem to be). And it’s much easier to ignore something than deal with it, right?
How I’m seen by the “mainstream” hasn’t changed much, if at all. I didn’t and don’t expect it to anytime soon. Like I say, if I was a different person, it might bother me. But I’m not, so it doesn’t…