(((Digimon Is Forever)))

Instead of asking yourself if you “really need” an accommodation or disability aid, try to reframe this and ask yourself “will it help me or make things easier for me in any way?”

Think about whether it would improve your quality of life, or lessen your pain or just make things a little easier for you.

Just because you can get by without something doesn’t mean you should have to. You don’t need to be in the most dire need to make use of aids or accommodations. If they make things better for you in any way, you deserve that.

disabled people buying cute mobility aids, pill boxes, joint braces, etc. are NOT just buying them as a fashion accessory. we need that shit and if we have the option to buy an aid that is pretty as well as practical to make us feel a little better about needing them in the first place then we have every right to use them without being judged for it. 

Video description: A feminine-presenting person in a red leather jacket. They say, “Why I wish you’d see this mobility aid (glasses) like this mobility aid (cane) part one: If I’m not wearing my glasses, what you might assume is that I’m either wearing contact lenses or I just can’t see as well. But what you never assume is that my vision has just magically improved. So, if you see me without my walking aid, it’s safe to assume that I might be wearing a support that you can’t see, such as a hip support or that I’m struggling to walk as well. So never assume that my pain or my mobility has magically improved when you see me without my aid.”

You are not superior to the person who is nonverbal. You are not superior to the person who needs a carer. You are not superior to the person who wears diapers. You are not superior to the person who can’t manage a job or an education. You are not superior to the person who is intellectually and/or cognitively disabled. You are not superior to the people in psych wards and group homes. You are not superior to the person in the wheelchair. You are not superior to the person on disability benefits. You are not inherently superior to any of these people just by virtue of being more capable in comparison. Leave your ableism at the door or don’t enter

get a damn shower chair

get a damn mobility aid

get a damn grabber

get whatever helps you live life with less pain

don’t wait for someone to give you permission

you don’t need it

if something helps, use it

it is as simple as that

There is no age limit on chronic pain. Just because you do not like to think about children being in pain does not mean they do not exist. They deserve to be believed and they deserve access to pain management.

Which includes mobility aids. No one is too young to use a mobility aid. What do you gain by stating otherwise?

You are ignoring the lived experience of countless disabled people of all ages whose lives have improved by utilizing aids. You’re making the young people who resist using their mobility aids (because of negative stigma) feel even more strange and other.

In all my years of using mobility aids and being told that I’m “too young to be using that!” by strangers, it has never once made me feel good.

And I shouldn’t have to bare my entire medical history in a walmart grocery aisle to make them understand that.

I’m laughing at the thought of all of the severely underqualified individuals who felt the need to advise me in regards to my body over the years.

And this isn’t about the people who send me kind reminders because they have had similar experiences and want to help when I am struggling.

This is about strangers who have given me advice after seeing me use a mobility aid. With zero knowledge of my body or conditions.

This is about distant relations that have made harmful suggestions without a second thought because they “heard about my issues” and think they have the answer.

It’s tiring. It’s overdone. It isn’t helpful. Please don’t waste your breath.

able-bodied people don’t seem to realise the nuances of disability, they look at it as such a black and white issue when it’s really not. like, i don’t need a wheelchair in the sense that i can’t physically use my legs and i don’t need a walking stick in the sense that i would fall over without one. but i do need a wheelchair in the sense that it could make the difference between my being bed-bound for a day and being bed-bound for a week and i do need a walking stick in the sense that using one today might enable me to do more tomorrow. disability and chronic illness aren’t black and white; using things out of necessity can mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people.

Hell yes! Louder for the people at the back!!

I was bed ridden for 8 months due to illness. I lost my ability to walk. I had to start all over. Though on my good days i can now walk without a cane, on my bad days, I gotta use that cane of mine to ease my joints so tomorrow might be a bit easier.

Illness, chronic illness is a gradation of a multitude of lifestyles, needs.

Life isn’t black and white, so why should our needs be?

exactly. and that’s the other thing: mobility aids, etc allow PWD to have a little bit of ‘luxury’ or a little bit of normality. they allow people to literally leave their homes, to attend concerts, to go out to lunch, to visit a museum, to take a shower, to study at university, to see friends, to attend weddings, to travel. it’s not just as simple as allowing people to stand or to walk, it’s allowing people to have freedom and to live

 and the whole ‘it’s just for attention’ thing is wild like fuck yes I benefit from people seeing this cane; it means they don’t walk into me and make me fall over like they did all the time before I used a mobility aid. how is people being gentler and a little more aware of my fragility in public a bad thing? 

it’s not hey. 

yes!