Ritual

A note on disability and the art of shaking hands. I’ve been in several social situations where I’ll meet a new person and that individual will reach out to shake my hand. I don’t have the strength to raise my hand to reciprocate and I always find the other person’s response to this matter of etiquette to be quite revealing. Some people will quickly jerk their hand away, as if they’ve been burned and they’ll flash a nervous, uncertain grin. Some will morph their aborted handshake into a squeeze of my forearm or a pat on my armrest (confirming my theory that people often see my chair as an extension of my body). A select few will actually pick up my hand and shake it without hesitation. I can usually judge a person’s level of comfort around me from how they deal with the handshake scenario. I suppose I could save some people potential embarrassment by simply telling them it’s okay to pick up my hand, but that would make things so much less interesting. I should start keeping notes and if the novel doesn’t pan out, perhaps I can write an Idiot’s Guide to Disability Etiquette.
Must remind myself to catch the BBC’s new audio production of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I never heard the original production, which probably lowers my geek cred a little. That also reminds me that I need to read the rest of the books in the series.