I love kids, especially when they are just my height... oh, I’d say around 6 or 7 years old they should be. Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and you know boys and girls that age are just about as tall as I am sitting in this wheelchair; that means they give the best hugs. But I have to be a little more careful around smaller children.
You see, 3 and 4 year olds are a lot shorter and they only reach up to the armrests of my wheelchair. This is where it gets risky, because when a 4 year old reaches up to give me a hug, well, there’s always a chance they'll grab hold of the ‘go’ stick on my power wheelchair and — whoa! — watch out… before you know it, I'm running over them in my chair.
I remember that exact thing happened with my nephew Kyle when he was really little. The rest of the family was in the kitchen and Kyle and I were over in the dining area. He reached up to hug me (I usually turn the power off on my wheelchair whenever I’m around a kid his age)... but this time I forgot. Anyway, he reached up and he grabbed hold of the stick to kind of give himself a boost and we instantly rocketed forward, he holding on to the stick for dear life, not knowing that it only made my wheelchair lunge forward faster.
The jolt of the chair threw me off balance and I couldn’t get a breath to call out for help. Plus, I wasn't able to reach down and pry Kyle’s fingers off the ‘go’ stick. I couldn’t even help him when my chair rammed him up against the buffet. Finally – in his shock – he started screaming… I think he was as shocked as I was — he screamed and the whole family came running.
Kyle burst into tears. But he wasn’t the only one. I did, too. He wouldn’t get near me for the rest of the evening and I felt so bad, so “handicapped.” I also felt guilty — I had invited a child into my space to give me a hug and I ended up squashing him.
When my little nephew left that night, I wondered if he’d ever get close to me again. Some weeks later, Ken and I drove over to his sister’s house and all the way I kept thinking about Kyle and whether or not he would be afraid of me.
I didn’t have long to wait. When we parked and I got out of the van, he was the first out of the front door. Unflinching, Kyle walked right up to me, stepped up on my foot pedals, climbed up on my lap, turned around (very carefully avoiding the go switch) and gave me a hug and a pat-pat-pat on my back. That time only one of us cried… that was me. When his mother came out the door I asked suspiciously if she had anything to do with his warm reception of his crazy Aunt Joni in that dangerous chair of hers. Carol shrugged her shoulders and clearly she didn’t understand my question — that incident with the buffet and my chair had long been forgotten.
The moral of this story? Well, there’s a time to turn the power on, and there’s a time to turn it off, right? From now on, the next time I’m around a four year old, you can bet the go switch goes off. Just a little bit of wheelchair etiquette for all you power wheelchair users tuning in today. But a better moral might be this: don’t underestimate the understanding and forgiveness of a child. And speaking of children, don't forget to visit me today at joniandfriends.org to get your free copy of this beautiful hardback children's book called "My ABC Bible Verses" – it is so gloriously illustrated, and on each page, there's a Bible verse and a story of how a child can put that verse into practice. It’s something pretty wonderful for the special children in your life so write me today at joniandfriends.org.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
© Joni and Friends