Comments | nightengalesknd: Wants and needs

nightengalesknd

Wants and needs

Jul 30, 2016 08:29

I don’t need my cane. I can walk without it. I walk more steadily with it. I have the stamina to walk further and faster. I have less pain when I use it. It helps me up curbs so I don’t have to go as far out of my way to find curbcuts. It is helpful getting off the bus. I don’t use it at home or at a friend’s house. I don’t use it around ( Read more... )

Comments 8

androgenie July 31 2016, 03:46:54 UTC

I wish I had a good answer...I wonder how much is related to *when* glasses became something other than a disability related thing...

nightengalesknd July 31 2016, 18:06:32 UTC

Yeah. That's what fascinates me the most. There's no biological reason to treat glasses one way and other devices a different way. And glasses have been viewed differently depending on time and place. Is it simply shear numbers - when enough people benefit from something, it isn't strange and "other" anymore? Is it that people whose vision is corrected to 20/20 with glasses are perceived as normal, while people who use other devices are still perceived as disabled?

gallian August 1 2016, 01:08:35 UTC

I wonder....

When canes/walking sticks were a style embraced by the elite what was the perception of those who used them for mobility? (Or do we have an apples/oranges problem there? And if so where did the posh walkjng stick effect come from? And why didn't it stick?)

Because we have the current trend of people who wear lenseless glasses to look chic that seems analogous.

nightengalesknd August 1 2016, 01:47:56 UTC

I know pitifully little about the fashion of gentlemen and walking sticks of that era. I don't know about the perception of them by the truly disabled, but I am sure that few of those posh gentleman would ever deign to think of themselves as crippled.

All I can say is that the more I think about all this, the more angry I get about how insidious the societal construction of disability really is.

secretshadowss July 31 2016, 08:54:58 UTC

This is a really interesting and thoughtful post. I wonder if I can have your permission to share this post with a friend (who also walks with a stick from time to time)

nightengalesknd July 31 2016, 17:46:26 UTC

Oh yes, please share.

lilituc August 1 2016, 02:25:24 UTC

Oh, man. I usually don't tell people that I don't need my cane all the time, because it just seems to result in that sort of thing - they want to know why I would have it all the time if I don't need it, or any of the time (which I don't get). It's like they can't understand it unless it's a fixed state. The thing is, I can't predict when I will need it. Sometimes when I get up from sitting, I feel ok, and sometimes I really don't. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to that. Then there is the complicated situations where my muscles just stop working temporarily (no diagnoses yet). People just seem to expect every day to be the same, and think that wanting to always have the cane with me is some kind of personal defect ("who would want to do that?") and not practical in not wanting to fall down ( ... )

nightengalesknd August 1 2016, 03:16:09 UTC

Oh yeah. This is a place I can talk about part-time cane use safely. The Real World - isn't.

I like your halakhal argument. I mean, if I might "need" it when I get to where I'm going, then I need take it there with me.

Our naysayers are drawing a false comparison. They are trying to make it "use a cane/be disabled" vs "no problems/willpower!"
But of course the true comparison is "use a cane and get around somewhat better" vs "don't use it and get around worse or not get around at all."