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Barb (THE BILL'S Barb) wrote... >I had an interesting semi-negative experience yesterday along the lines of >this discussion. Many years ago, when I was a sensitive lad (walked 6 miles to school, uphill both ways, poor, no shoes, barefoot in winter, barbwire for traction when icy, etc.), I had a negative experience as follows: A blind woman who was using a white caine, was standing at the door to a drug store. I, being a helpful boy scout, offered to hold the door. She answered back, in a sharp, belligerent tone, that she was capable of opening the door herself. I felt I had been reprimanded and rebuked. I felt hurt. With that experience in mind, what was I supposed to do the next time I met a physically challenged person? Help them, ignore them, walk the other way, what? Remember, this was in the days when a child did not speak to an adult unless spoken to first. I resolved the dilemma by, in the future, reading the body language. If I felt that the person needed help and that the person invited help by expression or by gesture, I helped. If the person did not somehow indicate that help would be welcomed, I essentially ignored them.