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?

When I young, I knew quite a few women my age who would probably have benefitted from using a stick - they had chronic fatigue, joint pain, were recovering from injuries and illnesses, had balance problems or mild cerebral palsy, or long term health conditions that affected their ability to walk or stand. And they didn't use a stick because it was so deeply shameful to do so if you were young. So I'm glad if today's equivalent young women are able to use an aid that helps them to be more independent, safe and comfortable.

Oddly the last three transmen I've met have been using walking sticks.

I've absolutely met a few people like this. You never have to wonder what might be wrong with them because they will tell you, at length, whether you really wanted to know or not.

It seems to be an identity thing and it often comes with endless performative demands for special treatment or loud demonstrations as to why they're different.

(A character like this also featured in Ink Black Heart which earned JKR even more criticism!)

Oh dear god...this will be the next thing coming to our school I imagine 🤦🏼‍♀️

I do this.
I need it for standing . It doesn't really help me with walking much, unless I have a sudden flare and my legs go very weak very rapidly. But it also helps by rendering my invisible disability more visible.

Sometimes I use a wheelchair, sometimes I use a stick, sometimes I don't use either and am fine,.sometimes I don't use either and massively regret it.

The ableism on this thread is disgusting. How is judging anyone on their disabilities / apparent trend setting, or "childish appearance" just by seeing them in public helping anyone? Have you spoken to their doctor??

Variety is the spice of life. Christ how dull town would look if it was full of perfect looking corporate clones or yummy mummies all dressed in neutrals. I quite like seeing colourful hair and people! Spoken by a natural mousy brunette who hasn't got the energy to upkeep bright colours.

Also ehrlos danlos syndrome. Seen a significant rise in patient population… all young female with POTS ehrlos danlos tachycardia long covid and walking stick. Disproportionately for age and previous
level of wellness. Many siblings both diagnosed…first one sister then the next. Multiple with factitious disorder themselves or factitious disorder by proxy (their mother) or both. It’s very predictive seeing the medical records of these young patients the endless phone calls tests messages unresolved symptoms medicines not effective and changing doctors and doing it all over again. Many use walking aides. Their lives seem very stilted to me and definitely not on track with their peers

And please please don't be nasty and make assumptions about sunflower lanyards. I feel hugely self conscious having to use the disabled toilets /lifts etc when I "look perfectly fine".

I use a sunflower wristband not lanyard and it makes me feel like it is helping a bit.

I don't have POTS I have a condition called Myasthenia Gravis. It was much more manageable before I got a bad bout of covid. Since then I have spent chunks of life bed bound.

It took a lot of bravery to start using a stick and it's horrible reading mocking posts.

This, and if you're on sm with them for any reason all their posts are of memes of...
*it's so hard when...
*only true friends will repost...
*nobody understands...
And many many self pitying things..

Ps. I don't claim PIP. I work full time (at home) and earn a very decent salary

Same, I look back now at all my years of coping with (at the time undiagnosed) Myasthenia Gravis and feel so upset I didn't feel able to use a stick.

It took over 2 decades of backwards and forwards to doctors to get my diagnosis.

That's my whole adult life from my late teens to early 40s feeling shamed how hard I found it to stand in a queue. Avoiding situations when I would have to queue. Stopping activities partway through because my legs would suddenly go weak. Hating public transport because I got so ill so fast and felt so vulnerable if I had to stand

I am genuinely horrified by the casual ableism on this thread. Wow.

If they are taking gender altering hormones they may be experiencing significant joint and muscle pain, plus fatigue due to the changes in their bodies. This may explain why they need the support of a walking stick.

I agree. This thread is deeply unpleasant to read.

Have to say I think this is a bit harsh.

dd doesn’t have a stick, nor is she on TikTok. She does however have EDS, fibromyalgia, POTS and autism. All formally diagnosed.

No sunflower lanyard, nor does she dye her hair odd colours, nor wear dungarees, she’s not trans, nor does she claim PIP. She worked until her boss shut the company down recently and will be going back to uni in Sept to do a Masters.

id hate to think that people think her having eds and pots and autism is somehow jumping on a trend. She also has coeliac disease. For some odd reason there’s a lot of evidence that EDS, pots and autism and coeliac disease often coexist with each other.

i also am diagnosed with EDS and POTS. Like previous posters have mentioned it’s hard to get formally diagnosed, there’s specific criteria you have to hit. Funnily enough i didn’t have any problems but i tick every box. It was a HCP who suggested I have EDS, hadn’t crossed my mind for some bizarre reason even though I knew Dd had it and knew I was hypermobile and had bladder issues, etc. so I wasn’t attention seeking or chasing a diagnosis…..I’d just gone to see an osteopath for back pain and he said he knew within a minute I had EDS. Oh and I also have mcas which again isn’t uncommon with eds. I was diagnosed with that a decade ago, before it was “trendy “.

Funny enough I’ve been thinking recently about using a stick as my ankles are so bad and I struggle walking some days now. This thread has really put me off though.

I often tell people about my Myasthenia soon after meeting them because I need them to understand that my speech might suddenly go slurred. I prefer people not to assume I hit the vodka at 10am

Is that ok I should I be really ashamed of my condition and treat it like a dirty secret?

Weird how some people see it as laudable and "brave" to have a blog about a "cancer journey" but self pitying and tragic it it's about other chronic conditions

I also spend at least an hour every day doing a combination of weight lifting, and weird specific exercises to improve stuff like my ankle mobility and improve my flat feet in an attempt to stop a downhill slide in my health. We don’t all just sit around being lazy and using any diagnosis as an excuse. In fact it’s the opposite for. I use my diagnosis as a reason to go down the gym at least 5x a week even on days I don’t feel like it!

Agree. I have a friend with EDS and Pots (POTS is a post COVID thing, EDS she has had for longer). They seem to coexist which actually makes a lot of sense when you think how EDS can affect the body.

Don't be put off getting a stick just because a bunch of people on the internet are getting kicks out of mocking disabled people. I feel much safer going out with mine.

Can confirm I definitely wear a bra, and have exceptionally dull hair and am female. Am I allowed to be disabled now? Do I pass the test to be allowed to use a walking stick without mockery?

I've seen a lot of trans men/non-binary young women with sticks. No judgment from me, my DC is disabled and I have POTS although dont use a stick (wouldn't help me at all). I assumed it was side effects from cross-sex hormones or surgery. Very sad if that is the case.

I dont think people are necessarily being judgmental about disability on this thread. Just pointing out that there is a new phenomenon where a certain "type" of young women seem to be using walking sticks. Not sure if the cause if physical or psychological but I've noticed it too.

Nope I never post about it on social media. 99% of my work colleagues don’t know. Partly because of nasty judgemental idiots who think like this.

Exactly. And I work full time even though it often leaves me with very little quality of life outside of work. And i have found ways to do voluntary work when even when bedbound. I help 4 different charities in my spare time.

I’d see your actions as reasonable and understandable.

What I don’t see as reasonable or understandable is people who use their issues - of whatever stripe - as a stick (pun not intended) with which to beat other people and a way of making unreasonable demands of others and/or making themselves a constant centre of attention.