To address your points: I wouldn't say that in my day-to-day life people are "wonderfully warm" to me randomly - but they do acknowledge me as a person, they s

To address your points: I wouldn't say that in my day-to-day life people are "wonderfully warm" to me randomly - but they do acknowledge me as a person, they see that I am there, and they aren't anxious (or whatever) to look at me. But in a chair - at an Expo dedicated to products for the differently-abled of all places - things were different. Maybe what you say might be the reason - but again, many of these people were caregivers and salespeople for companies marketing products to people with chairs and needs. In the course of working with my friend, and meeting with people who have different abilities and needs, many have impressed upon me how they themselves are perceived as lesser than able-bodied individuals. Many had this perspective after being in an accident or having come into a condition that necessitated the use of a chair later in life, so they knew how they were treated before by others, and how they are now treated. In fact, that's how my friend came to be doing what he does; his brother came down with a condition, literally in the prime of his life. My friend saw how people treated him, and wanted to do something to alleviate this - so he turned to customizing chairs, and did so for his brother, and found that people would then talk -to- him - not around him. It was like the "cool chair" was an icebreaker or something; it eventually led to the non-profit, but making custom chairs is his real passion. These people are more offended - and disappointed - by other not making eye contact, or talking with them - as if they aren't there. Many just want to be seen and acknowledged, like we all do. Regarding the quietness of scooters and chairs - yes, they are insanely quiet, and in normal day-to-day situations, that can be a problem even for people who wouldn't think or dream of being a problem for those in the chairs. Perfectly understandable, but it is something that needs to have greater awareness made about. Much like there are campaigns for "watch for motorcyclists" - we need the same kind of awareness for those in these quiet chairs. My friend and I have experimented with mods to make chairs more "visible" or "audible", but we are also at odds with the manufacturers of these chairs at times (some of the things we'd like to do are near to impossible because we can't get access to the chair's "internals" - for good reason, ultimately). Finally, I agree that not everyone, or even most people, is out to be "assholes" to those in chairs. But again, remember that I experienced all of this at an Abilities Expo - one place where I would think people would be -more- accommodating, not at the regular base-level, or less. Furthermore, I still can't discount the experiences of those who actually use these chairs on a day-to-day basis. While I acknowledge that alternate theories are possible and likely in many cases, I still think there is a widespread, perhaps unconscious "something" that causes people to act differently around those who are using such mobility devices.