I'm starting to understand at a deep level why people don't like the label 'disabled'. My wife suffers from a degenerative nerve disease that gives her constant pain and makes all forms of exercise painful. Nevertheless she has completed a fifty mile bike ride and a difficult 11 mile hike in the mountains within the past couple of months. Both of these achievements caused her considerable pain, yet she willingly undertook them because she refuses to be limited by her condition.
Every time I go for a bike ride, especially on the bike path, I see an overweight person on a bicycle and I make a point of giving them a sign of encouragement. I know that a thumbs-up from a stranger can go a long way towards motivating an inexperienced cyclist and making them feel less self-conscious.
I also see similarly overweight people parking in handicapped zones and using motorized wheelchairs or mobility scooters. When I think of my wife I can't help thinking that in a lot of cases the only difference between the bicycle and the mobility scooter is state of mind.
I see cyclists with two legs, one leg, no legs, fat, thin, young and old. God bless us all!
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