May I preface that I consider mocking handicapped folks to be the most tawdry, vile form of humor…

but I have no qualms mocking the companies who make wheelchairs! Please consult the brand name of this one:

WHAT?! If this were the FAIL blog, this would undoubtedly be a KARMA FAIL! WHO NAMES A COMPANY THAT MANUFACTURES EQUIPMENT FOR PARAPLEGICS “KARMA?!” I almost approached the young women to tell her that her chair more or less screams “I did something awful in a previous life, and I’m paying for it in this one!” but decided that I would not be able to communicate the idea effectively in Chinese, and would redefine offensive no matter how I broached the subject. Oh, and don’t worry about the photo, she has no idea she was in it! I went into clandestine mode (and by that, I mean overtly touristy mode) and took a number of inane shots that would fit perfectly into a facebook album entitled “OMG I’m on the Taipei metro and I’m going to take meaningless pictures because I’m so cool and am in Asia and I really want to drive the point home that I’m in Asia and that makes me culturally superior to you because I live in Asia,” (think FOB signs, the metro map, and able-bodied Taiwanese) because I obviously didn’t want to offend the poor girl, Lord knows she’s dealt with unspeakable hardship in her life (Asians aren’t exactly the most accepting of disabled folks). I feel like an awful human being now, but I look forward to manning my very own karma-mobile in my next life.