Quick Note: Scalzi's Head On

[davidgillon]

I just re-read Unlocked, Lock In and then the new Scalzi, Head On. It's not quite as disability focused as Lock In, but it's a return to his world where Hadens, locked in by Haden's Syndrome, participate in society via remoted operated robotic 'threeps'. It's very good.

Full review to follow, but one line really caught my attention: "But one thing you get used to when you walk around in a threep is navigating through crowds and busy sidewalks , since non-Hadens will literally walk into threeps because they don't see them as quite human. It's not intentional. It's one of those unconscious biases that people don't even know they have."

You can switch wheelchair for threep, and it remains true. And Scalzi has nailed something I knew, but had never really articulated.

The following line is true too: "Well, most of the time it's unintentional. Some people are just assholes".
 

Comments

[cloudsinvenice]

YES. We were in the new Tim Hortons that just opened in Belfast, and they have some weird queueing/ticket system which is basically Argos-like, but for food. And they don't signpost it so you have to figure it out for yourself, and what I noticed was that despite our being both conspicuous (six-foot-four hairy goth plus woman in a wheelchair: we're ALWAYS conspicuous) and constantly trying to catch staff members' eyes, we just got ignored and nobody asked us if they could help, even though it wasn't wildly busy and there were moments when they could have. Finally we took a guess and stood behind some people and eventually got to the front of the queue, but I couldn't help thinking it was one of those "wheelchair makes you a non-person" situations...

[davidgillon]

Had a similar incident in a pub a while ago, me on crutches plus a friend to carry stuff, and were being comprehensively ignored despite visibly waving a twenty while at the front of the crowd.

Eventually friend loudly remarked "This cloak of invisibility really works, doesn't it?" At which point they deigned to notice us.

[cloudsinvenice]

Daaaaaamn. I'll have to remember that one...

[jesse_the_k]

Ah, what a gratifying thing, when someone names your experience.