r/YouShouldKnow Jul 19 '20

Other YSK That many people with a disability consider their aides (wheelchair, etc.) an extension of themselves. You should ask before touching or moving them.

Read this article and was surprised to hear how many people struggle with this. Even if you are trying to help, you should ask first.

www.bbc.com/news/disability-49584591

42.1k Upvotes

916 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

9

u/inquisitor-567 Jul 19 '20

Yes this is so true my best friend has a service dog and she’s the cutest german shepherd lab mix when I’m over at her house and the dog isn’t working we play with her just like normal but as soon as we leave and the vest goes on I completely ignore that dog unless she’s giving me a signal that something is wrong

5

u/rkei Jul 20 '20

Learned this earlier this year (not looking at/talking to service animals, not just not petting them). It’s one of those things that makes sense the second someone tells you, but people including me forget that working dogs are still dogs and if they are paying attention to you.... they are paying less attention to their job.