A wheelchair called "Kevin"

I wish to share with you a little episode that happened this morning. As I was driving with my wheelchair to my workplace, a young lady who works in the same building greeted me as follows:

"Good morning ... Kevin!"

To which I quickly replied:

"...Gordon!?!"

Now this isn't the first time that I've been called 'Kevin'. This name of Irish origin appears to be common among wheelchair users. In fact, I can say that I know at least two wheelchair users who bear this name. Now, I don't have anything against the name of Kevin, but my name is Gordon', a Celtic name. In other words, my name comes from more ancient origins. But enough of that.! Well, I am always perplexed when this thing happens but I assure you I know the cause. A disabled colleague of mine reminded me of the reason. Here it goes...

People aren't greeting me, they're greeting my wheelchair!

Alright, they are actually noticing that a wheelchair has just passed them and dig into their memory banks to return the only wheelchair user's name they know. So, hey presto, I become Kevin! I'm not sure if there's a female equivalent but I bet there is one. And this can also happen in the case of people with other impairments.


As you can tell, I don't take this thing very seriously. However, it illustrates a point - that people don't always see us as individuals but rather as a bunch of clones. Even havin the same name... I wonder if I could get this watermelon to drive itself through to work, they would simply ignore it and greet it as 'Kevin'. Dah, probably they would just ignore it...

Note: No offence meant to my friends named Kevin. So, no hard feelings. That includes you, Mr Costner...

PS: I took that photo during the summer months when my family bought a large watermelon. I made the connections and voila! It got a cool look. Sadly, it was eaten in a few days