This a campaign for dignity, and respect.

See me for who I am not who you think I am.

This a real and very common experience for disabled people, and it has nothing to do with you, It is all about the other person’s discomfort, assumptions, and habits.

Here is what is going on when a person addresses the able-bodied person with you, not you.

1) People default to the person they assume has the ”authority”,

2) People may panic about saying the “wrong thing” instead of dealing with their own discomfort,

3) People may assume you need a “go-between” it’’s insulting but it is an all to common bias,

4) and lastly: They do not realize how dehumanizing it feels, to them it’s a small shift in eye contact, to you it’s a message: You don’t count!

Because eye contact is one of the simplest ways people say:

“I see you”, “You matter”, “I am talking to you” When someone denies you that, repeatedly, it starts to chip away at your sense of being taken seriously.

Share your story, and let’s spark a movement that can’t be ignored, together, we can build something powerful.

I’m not naïve—people have talked around me before, and they’ll do it again. But the moment that lit a fire in me happened at the statehouse. Six senators. Six opportunities for basic respect. Only one took it. Only one spoke to me directly, looked me in the eye, and treated me like I belonged in the conversation.

One senator even stopped mid-sentence when the able-bodied person beside me left the table, turned to smile at me, and then waited to continue when she returned. I was right there. I was participating. And still, I was treated like an afterthought. As if my presence didn’t count.

If our elected officials—people who meet constituents every day—can overlook me this easily, then the system needs shaking.

And that’s exactly why I’m speaking up now.