A WHEELCHAIR user has shared some of the offensive and demeaning questions he often gets asked by strangers, in a bid to highlight differing attitudes towards disabilities.

Tom Hendrie, 63, has been in a wheelchair for the past 32 years but believes he has seen a shift in public attitudes over the last decade.

The Dalton resident, who was injured in a shipyard accident in the 1980s said people often often ask him insensitive questions about his sex life and ask what is "wrong" with him.

He said: "People seem to feel more empowered these days, they're rarely aggressive towards me, but it tends to be more about the comments.

"I've had people say, 'how do you like the chair I paid for?' or I get asked 'so what happened to you then?'

"I was in shop once and a man turned to me and said 'can you still have sex'?

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"You just wouldn't dream of going up to someone in the street with a black eye and asking them what happened."

The Glasgow-born activist believes the national media has played an important role in shaping public perceptions, often misquoting facts and statistics.

"For a while we managed to get disabilities seen as an equality issue but now people see us as benefit scroungers or heroes.

"The Daily Mail has released 'public figures' that are completely wrong and they get believed by people, who quite often say things to me."

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"And it's not who you think might be the usual suspects, I've had help from Big Issue sellers and yet the person who asked me if I could have sex was an older middle class male," he added.

Passionate about ensuring people with disabilities are given equal status, Mr Hendrie is now head of policy and communications for a large charitable organisation based in Cheshire but commutes from his Dalton home.

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Having been disabled for more than half of his life, he believes education and input in schools is the way to overcome prejudice and discrimination.

In a former role, he used to do just that and immersed himself in to the world of disabilities after his accident.

Speaking about his injury, he said at the time it was 'the worst thing that had ever happened' to him.

However three years later he had volunteered with Barrow and District Disability Association, and completed a masters in Social Policy.