Girls Using Walking Sticks

You just posted an image of a specific identifiable wheelchair user, inviting scrutiny of their choices of hashtag?! What can you possibly think that adds to the discussion, in exchange for sending people to that profile to join in your scrutiny?

Social media schedulers often use a built-in set of hashtags that are added to all posts by default. Maybe it’s that. Or maybe that person likes to attract traffic from people interested in those hashtags? There’s just nothing to see here.

Disabled people are not obliged to disclose their medical situation in order to participate in public, including when they want to show off a disability aid they like.

For example an advert for Neosticks (pretty sparkly sticks/canes) which are the favored brand for Audhd young women.

The girl in the ad is a wheelchair user soust have a disability other than Audhd but does not mention that anywhere. Instead 20+ hashtags all related to Audhd, ADHD etc to get maximum exposure to people in these groups.

Why market a sparkly , plastic walking cane to these groups if they aren't the target market.

“It's not a science forum to discuss evidence based studies.”

Gosh, I must have imagined all those threads and posts reeling out studies, statistics and research papers on this board then. My bad.

Sticks help with balance. It’s such a mystery why that might be helpful to people with dyspraxia - also known as “the clumsy child” condition.

Shiny fun-looking sticks get talked about and shown off more on socials than grey NHS sticks. Shocking news.

Some young people benefit from using sticks, and are being visibly happy about having shiny sticks instead of awful ones. What? No, really?!

The pushback on this thread is against the presumption that there’s a surge of faked or somehow inappropriate stick usage by “young blue haired women” and that said surge will be harmful to disabled people in general.

It’s a fake panic being used to drum up hostility and suspicion towards young women going about their lives harming no one. And that’s a pretty weird (and awful) flex for a supposedly feminist stronghold of mn.

Of course not.

The only person demanding scientific evidence is you!

Everyone else has noticed a trend & is a bit baffled by it & wants to discuss it.

It's not a science forum to discuss evidence based studies.

There probably does need to be some research. I know of several studies looking at social contagion in young women if you are interested & have access to scientific/medical journals. I am happy to give references if you are genuinely interested in research but I think you are just gunning for a fight because people disagree with you.

Anecdote does not = evidence

”its true cos we said it on mumsnet” isn’t it

Unless this board is accepting hearsay as proof all of a sudden? Not very in keeping with how things usually roll in FWR

If you look at some of the hashtags on SM. Audhdproblems, babeswithsticks, babes with mobility aids, Neosticks etc there are a lot of Audhd women posting with their Neosticks. Yes obviously Audhd does not mean people cannot have other physical disabilities but the trend does seem to be among women identifying as Audhd & carrying a Neostick. They are vague about how the stick helps them manage autism, ADHD, dyspraxia etc.

It does seem a sudden & very bizarre trend & there is nothing wrong with noticing it & discussing what the causes could be.

Things like long COVID & the sudden increase in illnesses like EDS, POTS, MCAS etc in young women could all be contributing factors & there is plenty of evidence to show these really have increased but little explanation of causes.

Plenty of posters have 'testified' to this observation already.

i'm not policing the thread so much as countering your assertion.

Feel free to produce some evidence to the contrary.

There are medical professions on this thread telling you it’s happening. It has been noticed by more than one poster.

Feel free to produce some evidence of this trend / upsurge.

Spoiler: not likely, because it’s not really a thing - and you’ve been asked lots of times by lots of people, but still nothing

Meanwhile - you’re still not the thread police and still don’t get to dictate the direction of discussion in a chat board by chasing off people with different viewpoints.

The issue is a little more complex and nuanced than people simply " pretending" to be disabled. The issue is how people form identity and the sorts of things they form their identity around. What these identities mean, and what they are meant to communicate.

No, they are not being intolerant. The issue has been that some people wanted to turn the thread into something it was not. It was not intended as a place to share disability experiences, but a place to discuss the recent trend /upsurge in young women using walking aids, and why they might be doing this.

It's not that people are 'pretending' to be disabled. There is no hard evidence of that.

Instead it's more of a change in society where we have become very individualistic. People define their identity rather than society. It used to be society defined you as disabled/non disabled. Or male/female but now it's become more about how individuals see themselves.

All Disabled people are genuinely disabled in that they define themselves & identify that way but the definition & 'identity' have changed.

Breaking down stigma & awareness of hidden disabilities has been a great thing but I think there does need to be some debate around 'disability identity'. When 'gender identity' emerged we were told we must never ever discuss or criticize it & that has led to more problems that is now harming young people & society is trying to fight back.

Disability identity has the potential to cause similar problems.

It needs to be discussed out in the open in a constructive non-hateful way in order to protect the next generation of young girls growing up

Again, do we have ACTUAL HARD EVIDENCE that people are pretending to be disabled?

We need to be very, very careful about assuming that people who appear to be physically disabled are not, in fact, physically disabled.

I do not think that we get to judge people using walking sticks as essentially making it up for effect and then call it 'eroding the meaning of the word disabled'. That feels like a dangerous road to go down.

They’re eroding the meaning of the word disabled. It’s dangerous.it already happened with the word woman, look how that’s panned out.

Your personal experience of disability doesn't mean you get to dictate 'the reality' to others. There's no single reality where disability is concerned, and people don't have to justify their coping strategies, or how disabled they appear to the outside world, to anyone else.

Possibly the most depressing aspect of this thread, for me, is the way some people who are dealing with disability themselves are coming off as being among the most intolerant, and the quickest to put the boot in if other people's experiences don't happen to match up to theirs. What good does it do anyone to punch down?

They are definitely the in thing in the Audhd community!!

I guess the sparkly, pretty colours appeal to that group.

DMs physio advised against them due to the design. The old fashioned 'crook' design is not great for people with Joint problems (she has an auto immune condition called Rheumatoid arthritis which affects hands/joints in particular) and they don't give good stability if you have to weight bear on them. The consultant said he cringes when he sees anyone with a neo walk.

I did think the post was bizarre as there were at least 20 hashtags but no mention of any physical disability. It was clearly marketing the product at women & girls with autism, ADHD, chronic fatigue etc. obviously if these groups do need walking aids then they should be able to choose something pretty but thought it was bad taste of the company. I guess they are quite niche so if they can sell as a mainstream accessory rather than walking aids they can make more profit.

Can't comment on why it'd be tagged AuDHD rather than something to do with mobility issues, that's weird. But I can confirm that the sticks are entirely fit for purpose in terms of weight bearing. And no, I don't work for NeoWalk but their sticks have helped DD feel less crappy about needing one in order to walk any distance or stand for more than a couple of minutes. And building a collection in every colour, so she can co-ordinate with her outfit, has made her happy. Yes, they're overpriced but there's definitely a market for them. I can't think why anyone would be buying and using a stick if they didn't need it - I certainly wouldn't want to do it, as although my knees are getting dodgy in middle age I can't see how a stick would help me. I've seen first hand, though, how much of a difference it's made to DD. She started off using an old NHS crutch because it helped her, but she hated how it looked. Then she discovered NeoWalk...

If you can't cope with leaving the house, reading/typing on social media is one of the only things you CAN do. Remember also that, if your 'spoonies' are autistic, they'll have a strong sense of injustice and responding to correct inaccuracies will be a NEED for them. Even if they're exhausted.

Wearing dungarees means that you don't have an uncomfortable waistband to deal with. If I'm in jeans or trousers or a skirt, the waistband drives me mad no matter how well the clothing fits or how soft the material is. I'm just constantly aware of it and it's really distracting. A dress would also solve the problem, obviously, and occasionally I do wear one. But my style isn't particularly feminine and I don't feel that dresses are really 'me'.

You go to the toilet in the usual way, by placing your rear end on the toilet seat and releasing your bladder/bowel. 😉 Seriously though, you just pull the straps off your shoulders and then pull the dungarees down as if they were trousers - it's not rocket science!

Your paragraph about MCAS is just nasty. I don't know much about it, nor whether there is a link with autism. But if there is, I do know that 'processed shit food' is just as toxic for autistic people as for everyone else. However if you experience symptoms of ARFID, which many autistic people do, the 'processed shit food' might be the only thing you can eat. Because it's bland and easy to grab and always the same. DD mostly eats shite food. It worries me. But not as much as the alternative, which would be literally not eating at all.

EDS doesn't always mean regular and full dislocation of joints, my DD for example just experiences subluxation. She doesn't have a diagnosis, thus I don't actually claim she has EDS. But the reason for the lack of diagnosis is related to her autism; she's had as many tests as she can bear but she has a crippling phobia of needles. She has frequently said that she would happily die rather than have a life-saving injection (let's hope it never comes to that). She experiences symptoms that may well be POTS too, but had a complete sensory meltdown at the GP because she couldn't cope with the blood pressure cuff. DD does in fact struggle with raising her arms to wash her hair; this is why even at nearly 15 years old I have to help her. She sits on a shower stool, in swimwear, and I do it for her (she can't stand for long in the shower because she gets faint). She also has some of her hair dyed a very bright colour, because she just loves the look of it. This is achieved by a session at the hairdresser with her staring at her phone while I sit right next to her doing the small talk for her. I'd prefer to skip it but she's willing to go and it makes such a difference to her confidence. Which has been at rock bottom for a long time, having failed three school placements and now with such severe school trauma that she can't set foot in a school. I'll do anything to help her feel good about herself at this point.

I saw an influencer sponsored ad for Neowalk (high price trendy walking sticks I had briefly googled for DM but quickly ruled out due to price & beung impractical)

I did notice she had about 20 hashtags on the post all relating to Audhd, including Audhd babes with sticks. But no mention of the mobility disability. I thought was strange as you would think she would be open about the physical disability & 'speaking' to other women with that disability rather than the Audhd community.

It did make me wonder if they are marketing these expensive (£80 +) sparkly sticks (that actually would be impractical if you had to weight bear on them) to 'Audhd babes with sticks' as if somehow having autism or ADHD would be helped by a walking stick.

I probably need to look more into this influencer as maybe there was a back story I wasn't aware of but it did seem very, very off.

Funnily enough, the ones who exist won't disappear...

Do you mean it’s a trend in a fashion accessory sense op? Like wearing a top hat or something? Maybe they’re using them as potential weapons given the rising levels of violence against females

I remember being at an event a couple of years back where I bumped into two friends, who also hadn't seen each other for a while. It was just after Covid so their conversation was heavily around the effect it had had on their mental health, plus mental health problems in general. I attempted to empathise and both of them just turned to look at me with "What do YOU know about it?" looks on their faces. Neither of them had the first clue that I had personal experience on what they were talking about, and assumed there was nothing wrong with me. It just so happens that I choose not to discuss it a lot because I don't want it to define me, not that that means I think everyone else should do the same.

It was clear that that wasn't the sort of viewpoint they welcomed so I left them to it.

I was in a hotel bar last night listening (earwigging) to three women out 'neuro diverse' each other. The list was endless. They all had the funny dyed hair too. No sticks on show so they're obviously not up with the times.