Saturday 29 August 2015

Young people deserve a bit more credit

Recently I've been out in a wheelchair and realised the huge divide between peoples' reactions. You hear a lot in the news about my generation committing crimes, being antisocial, permanently drinking and causing havoc in general. I was fully expecting a few stares and whispers.

However, from young people there was none of that. They made eye contact, smiled and apologised for being in the way even if they weren't. I actually felt like a human being and not a freak show.

Parallel to that, those of my parents' and grandparents' generation avoided eye contact, stared when they thought I wasn't looking and positioned themselves in shops so my sister struggled to push me through aisles. In her true style, she just drove straight towards them.

The only person who approached me was a lady also in a wheelchair, who was lovely but seemed to be struggling with the exact same situation as me.

So for those people who believe young people aren't empathetic and don't care about others, I'm afraid in general you're wrong. I know not everyone of my age is lovely but I believe the same could be said for any age. What I have witnessed in the last few days is teenagers being sensitive and compassionate, not just towards me but to others in chairs and on crutches. Youth crime rates are actually falling, but those under 25 are most often blamed. One in four teenagers don't even drink alcohol but teenagers are always the ones being portrayed as running round drunk in the news. 

It seems all the blame is put on my generation.

Ironically, by the people treating me like a circus act today.


Have a beautiful day x