When we talk about harms of ableism, this is one of the things we mean. People use terms like "hurt feelings" and "offended" and that's not it.
It's the way the attitudes represented and reinforced by the imagery and/or language choices turn up in behaviors and policies.
I would not have regained my ability to walk and do activities of daily living (most of the time) after a traumatic injury, without a walker.
It was really frustrating how a number of members of my care team were actually hostile about it despite the difference it made for me
This is it. Like, if it wasn’t for a disabled person in my social network talking about how much their walker was helping them get out of the house with less pain and build up their function I would have never gotten a walker and probably never built up the strength to walk again w/o constant agony
The professionals seem to be so scared of recommending mobility supports to anyone still independently ambulatory.
I've seen just how much they can help. A friend pulled his groin muscle as was looking at months before he could even see a physio, and he kept re-injuring it when he walked...
So I lent him my spare adjustable hiking cane.
Entirely unsurprisingly, he started healing faster and the pain reduced.
My condition is hEDS. Instability and weakness causes injury and the downtime causes more instability and weakness, but pushing through causes more damage 🔄
This hesitance only seems to exist for chronic conditions. They'll give you a cast and crutches for an acute injury, but when it's chronic they wring their hands about deconditioning.
And what’s frustrating is WHO CARES!!? There are much worse things than using a mobility device! For example, having a lot of pain and very limited mobility because you’re not using one!
SO MANY PEOPLE say that they hear about assistive devices or strategies for dealing with issues or pain or symptoms from sources other than medical professionals, and that really shows a lack of information being given out, for sure.
I know I helped SEVERAL people to get a cane. I got my walker as soon as I realized it might help me, because of knowing others using mobility aids. This helps so much!
Well, yeah. That's "facts don't care about your feelings" etc.
It also makes these conversations really frustrating when you're talking about material harms and people think you just don't understand how metaphors work.
