lord-frier:

Mobility aids, you know em, you’ve seen em. Wheelchairs, crutches, canes, buggies ect. They are great inventions to help people get around with better mobility, hence mobility aids.

Thing I wanna talk about though, is this awful problem that non disabled people have, stemming from the press pushing articles about people faking disabilities to get benefits. This has to be the most toxic thing that disabled people have to deal with on the daily and I need to talk about this, cause its not ok. 

So some people (myself included) have disabilities that occasionally require the use of a mobility aid, like crutches or a cane. Some people use mobility aids all the time but can go without them if needs be (an example of somebody using a wheelchair who can stand and walk, but only for very short times). These people get looked down on so badly by judgey non disabled people and its awful to be there and there is no need for it because of this misguided belief that they’re just faking it

I had a bit of a rough time around Christmas. I had a fall, and with some serious back luck, fell on by back and a bottle in  my back was in the worst spot, so it jarred my nerves and put me in a lot of pain. I also ran out of my painkillers, so was without for a good few weeks. I have a cane I will use if I need the support, but I hate using it and honestly the idea of having to use it again really hit me so hard, Like I cried cause I was so worried about what people would think.

I was lucky. at uni everyone knows about my leg and they were all ok and supportive about it. It really helped a lot, but it really hit me that I shouldn’t feel this way. Cause my leg problems are intermittent, when I have my bad days I keep having the feeling of “I’m just not disabled enough” and that’s never ok. I don’t take any benefits at all, cause the government made it so i cant apply, but still, I gotta grapple with that awful thought of “Am I disabled enough to use this”. The answer should always be yes. My doctor says I should use crutches on bad days, and that should be good enough but Im always so worried about other people claiming that im “faking” it cause i’m pretty active when my leg isnt bad. It still hurts but I can deal with it.

Im rambling, but my point is that there are people who need to use mobility aids occasionally, but not all the time, and people shouldn’t look down on them, call them liars or fakers or make them have to “prove” their disability constantly. We really need a change on how people view disabled people, especially ones with Hidden Disabilities because i’m noticing a nasty shift where people need to police disabled people constantly to “catch them out”. That needs to stop, its not ok. 

I dunno how much sense this made, but yeah. I don’t like the way that things are going, where disabled people are losing benefits constantly, and people want to police disabled people so they need to prove their disability constantly. We need a change, a governmnet who cares more about disabled people, and the press to fuck off with their hatred of anyone who is disabled.

Sorry for the long rant

TL;DR, Some people dont need mobility aids constantly, and that doesnt make them any less disabled. Treat them with as much respect as anyone else