Girls Using Walking Sticks

[Arran2024]

I saw a post about this on X this morning. Apparently it is a trend.

Anyway, I went into town this afternoon and sure enough, I saw a number of young women with walking sticks. None of them looked like they were leaning hard on their stick, just kind of walking along like it was a big umbrella.

Is anyone else seeing this?

Problems I and disabled people I know have faced (since forever!) from the general public being arseholes about disability: numerous beyond counting

Problems I and disabled people I know have faced from young women using disability aids: zero

Just to be very clear, I don't think anyone has suggested that young women who are using sticks that they do not need will be rude/aggressive etc. to disabled people etc. - the issue is that they will try the patience and raise skepticism in the general public, so the current problems from the general public will become much worse.

And this is going to make things even worse for people with hidden disabilities who already have to rely on the general public to trust that they are telling the truth when they ask them for a seat/assistance etc.

I hope this phenomenon is fairly limited and will disappear quietly, no doubt to be replaced by something else.

However, there is no question in my mind that there is a clear parallel between the loss of meaning/boundaries for the words woman and sex and now possibly disabled. When terms are pushed and redifined to the point that they become meaningless in language and eventually need to be clarified by the Supreme Court...

Many people did not survive polio in the past. For those who did, a condition called post polio syndrome became apparent

Mary Berry and Arthur C Clarke have lived with the lifelong results of the illness they survived.

I wonder if long COVID may similarly become post COVID syndrome, with lifelong consequences - and that we might be seeing early signs now?

Actually I'm referring to a specific set of people I know of IRL.

Maybe you need to get to know more people.

There is a subset of women like this. Usually but not always young, quirky, alternative, make a diagnosis their personality, walking aid/joint splints (but only to make a TikTok or go to an appointment) it seems to be a way of getting attention/PIP and being argumentative under the guise of fighting for the cause. The women I’ve met who fit this description, have history of childhood trauma, tend to be quick to annger and have a desperate need for a community to fit into. Loners turned quirky disabled.

It’s eroding the meaning of the word, as a PP mentioned, which makes it dangerous. They clog up an already groaning system and use resources meant for actual disabled people. Not to mention, they’re giving disabled people a bad reputation.

Worse still, if they have children, they mould them into little disabled people and pass on their victim mentality to them too. It’s a ticking time bomb, not a harmless trend. It’s quite obviously a facet of deep seated mental illness.

This is what my (disabled) husband also says.

Prior to his stroke, when he still did on-call psychiatry crises assessment shifts, he said he saw plenty. Often also non-binary identities, clutching an emotional support soft toy, etc.

Clearly no one does that for fun, it is a cry for help, a way of presenting trauma and struggling to navigate the poorly funded primary care, CAHMS, and later on GAP systems. But it sure clogs up the systems even further.

I just think its "funny" how Mumsnetters will see young women with walking sticks and immediately diagnose them with Munchausen's without considering that maybe, just maybe they could simply have a disability.

Real Munchausen's or Munchausen's by proxy is very rare. It's not the same as being a hypochondriac or malingering.

What a load of claptrap. And she could at least get her grammar right (‘my cane and I’ 🙄🙄🙄🙄)
There are plenty of people who make an exaggerated or faux disability their entire identity. It’s not a huge stretch to see it in real life.

I'll say one thing, the spoonie community can be fucking energetic when the mood takes them.

Do we have any genuine evidence here that young women are 'identifying into disability' rather than, y'know, actually HAVING one or more disabilities?

If young women using canes is more commonly seen then it is indeed a trend that can be observed. I would be extremely wary of labelling it as some sort of fashion trend, that is being consciously and deliberately adopted.

Being autistic is known to increase the chances of also having e.g. EDS or some form of joint hypermobility, which would make the use of a cane potentially quite helpful in getting out and about.

Autistic people tend to have more problems with sensory sensitivities and fewer problems in breaking social convention in the name of 'looking normal', so are more likely to choose comfortable clothing. (Hello, dungarees).

Being autistic massively increases the chances of also having ADHD.

ADHDers tend to embrace the wearing of colourful clothing for dopamine hit purposes. (Hello, brightly coloured/patterned dungarees and maybe brightly-coloured hair as well.)

Being drawn to bright colours, and with the likelihood of mobility issues that are helped by the use of a cane, is it any wonder that young AuDHDers (people who are both autistic and ADHD) decide to purchase and use the sort of mobility aids produced and sold by companies like NeoWalk? Especially when (via social media) they see others, like themselves, using these products and feel less embarrassed at the thought of using a mobility aid than young women like them would have done 10, 20 or 30 years ago when the only option was a 'granny' style walking stick or an NHS greige crutch.

I'd bet good money that NeoWalk themselves have had a major part in the increase in young, disabled women using sticks. Because it's rubbish to need a walking stick when you're still a teenager, but if you can collect them in a range of beautiful colours and see others proudly using them then it can turn something very negative into something positive for them.

And I'm all in favour of that.

(From a middle-aged autistic woman, who loves colourful dungarees for the comfort and dopamine hit. And also thinks it would be kind of cool to have colourful hair, just as a big Fuck You to the societal assumption that I should now become entirely invisible to society as my reproductive ability winds up. But actually doesn't dye her hair at all, because it's far too much effort and because sitting in the hairdressers making small talk is not her idea of fun.)

Do we have any genuine evidence here that young women are 'identifying into disability' rather than, y'know, actually HAVING one or more disabilities?

They've got blue hair, duh! Course they must be treated with suspicion, dodgy as hell from the off.

<disclaimer> sarcasm

In all seriousness though @BlibBlabBlob , I think you raise some interesting points.
If you wade through the thread, it does give pause for thought, such as your brightly coloured clothes point.

Is this like when we were kids and we actually found it cool when we "got to" have a cast or bandage?

Which part of wearing dungarees is comfortable though? They’re hideously uncomfortable. How do you go to the toilet?

MCAS is a great example. They’re allergic to everything but not hair dye, tattoos or processed shit food. I’m not saying everyone with MCAS is lying before anyone runs with that, what I’m saying is the allergies can be convenient in a certain subset.

EDS. Their joints dislocate often. Then how are you raising your arms long enough to keep up the rainbow hair colour? Again, not everyone. A subset.

I’ve met young women like this in my job, more than you’d meet day to day. I have personal experience of some of the conditions they say they have. It doesn’t tally with the reality.

Spot on. They’re have enough spoons for an argument if you don’t bend over backwards fast enough.

Munchausens-by-internet isn’t rare at all. Search the spoonies hashtag and see for yourself.

1 - not a visitor
2 - it was said in reply to someone who specifically said it did not impact them
3 - if you’re seeing a post where someone calls you a disgusting bigot do report it - I can’t see any on this thread

4 - still waiting on the evidence on “lots of young women using sticks when they don’t need them”

So far it’s all a presumption based on young women seen with sticks assumed to be not in need of them - yes, that old chestnut that young people can’t possibly need mobility aids. Ha ha.

2 - it was said in reply to someone who specifically said it did not impact them

You are mistaken. You were clearly responding to my post. I have not said that this does not impact me - that was someone else.

We don’t have to be immobile in a chair all day to count as having disabilities as I’m sure you are only too well aware. You’ve posted about your own disabilities on here, how can it not have occurred to you that sometimes when people with health issues are posting a lot on here, it might just be because we’re having a bad day and not well enough to do anything else?

What’s with the hate for the spoons theory anyway?

EDS. Their joints dislocate often. Then how are you raising your arms long enough to keep up the rainbow hair colour? Again, not everyone. A subset.

I have fully diagnosed by a rheumatologist EDS. Normally I am weightlifting 3x a week so yes normally I can raise my arms up fine. Although I don’t dye my hair. Saying that I’ve only been able to do lower body stuff for nearly 2 months now due to really bad shoulder pain on one side. I’m struggling to take tops on and off over my head and struggling to wipe my arse…..I haven’t told anyone so colleagues, etc wouldn’t know 🤷‍♀️. I don’t think it’s fair to say oh if they can do x then they can’t really have a problem. Which ultimately is what you’re saying. It’s nasty ableist rubbish.

The women I’m talking about don’t weightlift. They fight for a diagnosis of EDS (their words) and that’s it, they fund raise for a wheelchair or walking sticks, claim PIP and say they can’t do anything because they have EDS. They give up. Life over.

Different to you. You are living a life with EDS. Your entire personality isn’t built around your EDS, is it?

Fair enough. And no my life/persona is definitely not built round EDS.