The Real Problem With People Speaking To Wheelchair Users As If They Are Developmentally/cognitively

The real problem with people speaking to wheelchair users as if they are developmentally/cognitively disabled is not that they think that (though that is a weird assumption to make) its how they treat us because of that assumption. Talking to someone like a baby or talking to people around them about them instead of to the person is the problem. That is not okay to do even if they are developmentally/cognitively disabled. People with those disabilities are not children and should not be talked about/to like that. Talk to the person. Simpler language is not the same as baby talk and cooing. Infantilisation is the problem. Assumptions are the problem. The issue is that they do it because they assume that we are mentally disabled and think that it's okay to do it because of that.