Living with Fred

Living With Fred

Survey of Exceptionalities 5304

27 Jan 2011

LIVING WITH FRED

One of our project choices was to go to the local mall and simulate having a disability while we're shopping. Well I decided to use someone very close to me and get the real feeling of living in a wheelchair. The person I chose is Fred Hilstock. Fred is my step-father's nephew and he was with us on a weekly basis.

When Fred was younger he was in an accident and he was left paralyzed from the waist down. Fred doesn't like talking about his accident so I don't remember exactly what happened to him. Whenever we pushed him for details he would have a hard time trying to get his words together, so we just left that subject alone. I concluded that's because Fred doesn't see himself as disabled and that's why he has a hard time facing reality.

I first met Fred when I was 10 and he was 15 years old. Fred doesn't have any brothers or sisters. I, on the other-hand, grew up with 7 siblings. My step-father would bring Fred over all the time. Sometimes as kids we felt jealous because Fred basically got whatever he wanted. Or we had to change whatever plans we had for the day to do stuff with Fred. I later figured out that he was given Fred the chance to be a kid and to show us just how lucky we are.

Fred didn't go to school with us. Back in those days, you very seldom if ever, saw disabled kids at your school. During school, sports were a big thing in our household. You either played sports or you worked after school. This isn't hard to figured out which option we choose. We played on as many sport teams as possible. Our parents supported us and attended as many games as they could...with Fred. It was always good to look over and see Fred in the stands or near the sideline. It didn't matter what the outcome of the game was, Fred was always glad for you. Then he would tell us what he would've done in certain situation that stuck out in his mind.

From having to escort Fred around on many outings, I've somewhat experienced what he has to go through everyday. Like I said before, Fred doesn't see himself as a disabled person. Because of this, you never knew from outing to outing if it was going to be a good trip or a bad trip. For example, we could go to a clothing store and it's like he purposely wanted the shirt hanging on the top rack. If the sell-clerk rushed over to get it before Fred had the chance to try to get it himself, he would feel disappointed and all hell would break loose. Back then I couldn't figure out why Fred acted this way. The shirt he wanted to look at was