Spend some time in a wheelchair and you quickly learn not to try to judge how cooperative the guy is but whether there is a wife with him, or better yet a girlfriend, or best of all a date. No matter how unenthusiastic he is he'll help as soon as he extracts her elbow from his pancreas...
In all honesty I've learned to wait for guys with dates to open doors etc even when it's awkward & inconvenient: you can tell at a glance if they want to score a cheap brownie-point with the girl. It sounds silly but it happens a couple of times a month.
Men are stupid that way. We will to do just about anything if we think it will impress the ladies.
Talking and hanging around with a friend who is a paraplegic I learned that he isn't all that disabled. In many cases he can jump curbs and climb or descend stairs about as well as anyone else. Often better.
The second thing is that he is quite proud of being able to get along without help. One of his pet peeves is people who assume he is more disabled than he is. People who try to pick him up and put him into his car without asking if he needs/wants help. He is quite capable of getting in on his own and stowing his wheelchair.
It is about all he can do to keep from smacking people who assume that because he is in a wheelchair they need to talk loudly and slowly. He has a master degree. You also don't want to get smacked by him. He is incredibly strong and tough.
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