Girls Using Walking Sticks

I was just trying to answer this point to agree when the thread disappeared last night

Yes the 'sick role' of old

Illness behaviour.

Oh dear. I have one to help with balance so most of the time I'm not leaning heavily on it.
I have mobility issues including hypermobility.. I also have ADHD and brightly coloured hair. And a radar key for when I really can't stand in a toilet queue.

I am also a grandmother. Does that mean I'm excused from the judging and snide comments, or am I the trendsetter that started it all?

It’s called illness behaviour.

So if you don't do this .... then its not you being referred to is it?

This thread is fucking disgusting. Imagine if it was about race, there would be uproar. Disability is just as much of a protected characteristic.

Thank you.

@JohnnyLuLus I have tried reporting it but clearly Mumsnet are cool about disabled people being mocked

There’s a mum at my DC school who looks like a chubby toddler with pink and blue bunches in her hair, brightly patterned coloured toddler clothes like dungarees, lots of childish logos and fluffy things, her DC wears noise cancelling headphones for no reason, someone told me that the mum calls herself non binary but she has a baby too so clearly is a woman 😂

I can only talk about my service user group of whom I know what disabilities they have or what diagnoses they have. Ive referneced above the habits and characteristics of many of the clients Ive worked with over the years.

Yes its a trend, a social contagion, just like trans is/was, it will move on to other things, it always does if you've been round long enough working in MH, care and public services.

Your poor son.

I sympathise. DH gets upset with me because sometimes I don't use my wheelchair out of embarrassment.

What, is young people having disabilities "a thing" ? Yes, sadly , and it's fucking cruel being disabled young. Especially when you "don't look disabled"

I travel pretty much everywhere by car now because I would get ill so fast if I had to stand on public transport for even a few minutes (my Myasthenia symptoms flare dramatically and I lose the ability to speak or swallow). Should I paint on some wrinkles so my disability is more believable?

I'm confused as to why this is on the feminism board, especially as it appears to have been posted with the express purpose to bring down a group of young women and denigrate them.

My teenager has a rare and complex bone condition, and opinions like those being expressed here are why he refuses to use a wheelchair when he needs it. Instead he pushes through and ends up needing weeks off school and extra rounds of treatment.

Quite a few years ago, there had just been a big announcement on the news about cracking down on fraudulent benefit claims or something....anyway, the next day so many people were walking around ASDAs with sticks. Can't think why 🤔

I've noticed this too on the tube - young women with sunflower lanyards and walking sticks. Last week, one was asking a man to give up his seat as she wanted to sit. He was about my age, late 50s and he looked like a builder as his clothes were splattered. He looked absolutely shattered! She was around 20.

I've seen 10 in total. I did wonder if it was some some of TFL disability research exercise as they were all girls and youngish (under 35) except 1 young man.

Is this a thing then?

They don't have to guess. It would be enough if they stopped judging.

God mumsnet is a disgusting, judgemental cess pit.

No, I don't blame them, I blame the people who think they can look around and decide who is, or is not, "genuinely disabled" just by looking at them

I got out of my mobility scooter and ran to chase a piece of paper that had blown away the other day. It didn't mean my disability is fake. I felt dreadful afterwards. And without the scooter I would not have been able to do the day out (a big trip round a zoo) at all. I am sure there were people looking and judging. That's on them . My neurologist knows my condition is real and how it presents.

Exactly. When you need to use the disabled toilet but know there's a good chance you 'll face raised eyebrows, or tuts, at best, and an aggressive challenge at worse, it makes sense to wear something that flags to people that you might have an invisible disability.

It's horrible that this is a source of mockery

I wear a sunflower silicon wristband instead (you can get them from the same charity) and I just have the lanyard in my bag in case my speech is bad and I need to explain my condition to a member of staff

Well unfortunately that is caused by a large cohort of people who do use aids, of many varieties, without genuine need for them.

The problem isnt the fact that people are talking about it. The problem is that people do this. Nothing any of us can do about it, but it shouldnt be that eveyrone has to shut up about it either.

Its not appropriate for people to behave like that, inventing symptoms and disclosing illnesses that they havent actually got and unfortunately there are people that do this.

Exactly

And , I can kind of see why disabled people decide to do things like dye their hair because it takes so much guts to use a stick that actually sometimes it's nice to draw people's attention to something else.

I use pretty (and expensive) jewellery for this purpose, but not everyone has that option or preference.

Agree.

It never helps to make sweeping generalisations about people like this.

My Mum stopped wearing the lanyard because people would sneer at her and she got even more questions when all she wanted was for people to NOT ask her why she needed to use the Disabled toilet (she has a stoma and normal loos don't have the room to set her things out to change the bag). It really is nobody else's business that she shits out of her stomach but the amount of people who demand to know is unreal.

People at the moment seem to just really enjoy being stereotyping, judgmental, hateful shits.

But they don't get to decide who is and isn't "actually disabled". That's what is so grotty. And makes people with invisible disabilities feel vulnerable.

But how does anybody know? DD is 18 and has a stick. She doesn't look "disabled", whatever that means.

Until I read this thread I didn't realise that people might assume it's a fashion choice or bandwagon jumping. It's utterly exhausting being disabled, knowing that people out there are making such assumptions just makes life that bit harder.