Source: Chairsstairlift.com
Instead of telling kids that pretending to be paralyzed is bad, morph the game into a learning tool. Build, borrow, or work something into a wheelchair, and then have the kids attempt to maneuver themselves with it. How will they get up stairs, get to the bathroom, get into bed, swim, without using their legs? Can they play basketball, hide and seek, or baseball in the wheelchair? What is easier? What is more difficult? Go out in public. How do the children feel when they are approached by strangers? Do they get stared at, ignored, laughed at?
Similar situation with missing arms / legs / fingers / eyes. By encouraging the kids to dig a little deeper in their play, Mom can help her kids not just sympathize with disabled people, but actually empathize. Encourage the kids to have conversations with disabled people - you might even learn a thing or two yourself.
Disability opens a person up to being a "public" body, meaning that everyone thinks they have the right to comment on your situation, because "visible" to most folks equals "not private." I often have people come up to me, asking if they can talk about something "personal", and then reveal to me the latest and greatest medical treatment for my condition, as if I haven't already tried it. People, whether or differing ability, race or religion, simply want to be acknowledged as human. There is more to me than my forehead, there is more to a paralyzed person than their wheelchair, and there is more to a black person than the color of skin.
Unfortunately, by making her childrens' play appear to be a shameful thing, this mother may have handicapped her kids' ability to empathize with others by using their imagination to pretend what it would be like to be disabled. Our childrens' greatest asset is their imagination; shame on anyone who attempts to stick that in a wheelchair.
