> > > 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

Hm, yeah. I had thought before about getting a cane, and I should do that before I travel by airplane again. Flying with fibromyalgia can be very rough, although it's gotten easier after my first time. And the airline staff is as helpful as they can be but a lot of times people don't seem to get at first why I would need help.

Ga"Thanks, Howard"halyn