> > What is your least favorite sterotype?
> > Howard
>
> That if you're not in a wheelchair or carrying a cane, you're just fine - and have, for example, no business using a handicapped-entrance button to open the door for you.
>
> Gahalyn

Good one. It's hard to believe how much difference a cane makes. I use one sometimes, but not because I need it. Usually I just carry it when I'm out walking, because dogs have a great deal of respect for a cane. But I find that people react differently. They will wait in their cars while I cross the street, or hold a door for me as I go in or out of a store. Sometimes I get called "sir."

Being an old guy with gray hair and tri-focals will get you some of these considerations sometimes, but the cane greatly improves the odds.

Once while recovering from a chipped bone in my ankle, I flew to California with a cane. The service was unbelieveable. I was offered a ride through the airport on a golf cart, I got upgraded to first class, and I was "sir" to everybody.
Howard