Because the five seconds it would take to ask: "Do you need help?" (eg, getting something from a high shelf) or "Could you hand me X?" (eg something on a shelf temporarily blocked by a wheelchair) or just WAITING would be far too much to ask. I cannot tell you the stunned looks I've gotten from people with visible disabilities when I've offered them my seat on the metro, even when I'm not in the 'reserved for the elderly and disabled' seats that are almost never filled with those they're reserved for. Admittedly, I don't randomly offer said seat on the chance someone on the train might have an invisible disability, but if someone said out loud, "Man, I'm tired," I'd give up my seat, unless I had just spent 8 hours on my feet and was wiped out myself. Society has just gotten way too "me first, screw you".
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-09-12 07:51 pm (UTC)