Off topic, but my experience has been totally different. In the past year I went from able bodied to visibly disabled and I have noticed a distinct difference in the way people (friends and strangers) treat me. I receive deferential, considerate, kind, and yes, sometimes curious, treatment from 95% of the population. The other 5% are oblivious to everyone, not just me I have my series of answers for the people who ask "what happened to you", and I give an answer dependant upon how much I feel like talking in that particular moment. I don't begrudge their asking, and so far I haven't felt stigmatized, marginalized or pitied.