Back in June, Morgan Wheeler saw a wheelchair user and asked if she could help. He said no. She started pushing him anyway. He asked her to stop. She kept pushing him. He asked her to stop again. She kept pushing him around.
1. This is likely illegal. Battery? Kidnapping? Assault?
2. Morgan decided to take to her facebook page to advertise what a great person she is. It went viral (over 500000 shares).
This is the worst kind of inspiration porn, turning a violation into a positive act.
I asked him if I could assist him with his shopping today, and he, quite grumpily, said that he was doing just fine and was not getting much anyways. Me, being as stubborn as I am, insisted and proceeded to push him and tell him a little about myself.
HE SAID NO. NO MEANS NO.
He interrupted me and said that he only needed help to the door, to which I picked up where I had left off before he interrupted me.
She said – “HE. INTERRUPTED. ME.” While she violated his autonomy.
I told him about Fayetteville, and my horses, and my nephews (I had parked a good ways away from the doors). And when I reached the doors, I continued to push him and talk. We reached the produce area and I asked him to tell me about himself. He reluctantly looked at me and began telling me that he lived in Sod- Lincoln County, and that he just recently lost his wife. I asked him if he was a veteran, to which he replied that he was- but with pain on his face, so I changed the subject and asked if he had made a shopping list.
It goes on and on. The original Facebook post is here, if you can stand it.
This woman violated a disabled veteran. And she’s being praised for it. She’s being covered in the media as a hero for our time.
I don’t blame Morgan, or at least not only Morgan, she’s following the norms she’s been taught.
The media is perpetuating a culture in which disabled people are dehumanized, touched without their consent, and their violators praised as heroes.