Treating those in wheel chairs with common courtesy at trade shows

Another nugget from the Julia O'Connor quarry of trade show articles. This one talks about the hard work endured by attendees who may use a wheelchair.

For some, the chair may be new and temporary but for most attendees, it is where they live. Julia offers a few suggestions for making life easier for everyone on the floor. If you are planning to attend a show soon it would be well worth the few minutes needed to peruse her article to fully verse yourself on these worthy suggestions.

1. Honesty is the best policy. Those folks in the chairs know that they are in the chairs. It’s your responsibility to make them as comfortable in your space as any other visitor.

2. These days, wheelchairs are smaller and allow more mobility. Watch out for them as they zip around the corners and scoot out of elevators.

3. It’s important to maintain eye contact, as with any visitor, but rather than hunching over, pull up a chair so you’re both at the same eye level and have a normal conversation.

4. Just as people with vision problem may have a person with them as a guide, so too may people in chairs.

A couple of my best friends are confined to wheel chairs and it constantly amazes me when I'm in their presence how others will do exactly what Julia warns against. Human nature is hard to overcome but if you are duly prepared you will be less apt to look and feel like and idiot and just treat these people like everyone else. Because they are; they just happen to view the world from a different perspective.

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