#mobility aids in school

[theatrekidenergy]

Hey, I’m looking for some guidance from some members of the disabled community.

I’m a disabled teen on the younger side, and I’m going to be going into the school year using a cane / forearm crutches for the first time (hooray!) after: 1. Finally being diagnsoed after having had chronic pain for multiple years 2. Finally going to a physical therapist who suggested the idea. I’ve been at this school for the past two years (and where I will continue to be for the next 5 including this year), and I’m just scared. For context, I was never super athletic at school (Never on sports teams and stuff), but a lot of people know I figure skate at a high level which I know will confuse them because dynamic disabilities can be confusing.

I’m scared of how people will act, especially of what teachers will think or say, of how I’ll be treated differently, I’m scared of having to explain to people (especially because I know people will ask “what happened” because I kinda became involuntarily popular for just being someone people could always turn too), but I have been bullied in the past and I don’t doubt it’ll get any better when they see the local trans kid using a cane or crutch.

Do you guys have any tips or advice on how to deal with it? I guess just deal with the staring, or whispers, especially because teenagers can be dicks. Maybe tell me some things to expect to hear from adults and peers. Or just any tips on surviving school as a teen with a mobility aid, or even gaining the courage to use one publicly even when you haven’t before.

Anything is appreciated, tips, advice, your own experiences, everything. Thank you so much for all your time and happy disability pride month. ❤️

[passions-and-pupils]

just a reminder that if an accessibility aid would help your quality of life, then you can use it.

this goes for everything from wheelchairs and noise cancelling headphones to fidget spinners and acupuncture rings. You don’t need a diagnosis to start accommodating yourself. Especially on the mobility side. Trust me when I say that the only people who want those are people who need them. you aren’t taking resources from others you are using them as intended. you don’t need anyone’s permission to make your own life easier.

[disjournaled-scrolls]

Yesterday, when I was sleeping during a study hall at school, some kids I kind of knew (who KNEW I have a disability) took my cane and started swinging it around, using it like a bat, and playing with it. People assumed I'd given it to them, because when asked to stop, they said no and continued. By the time someone woke me up and told me, they had broken the wrist strap and were pulling apart the pole to stretch the folding elastic. They did not say sorry. They did not take responsibility. They simply gave it back after saying "look, did you know it could do this?" and stretching the elastic again. My friends reprimanded them, but now the wrist strap connection is broken and keeps falling off my wrist, putting me in danger.

The day before this happened, they had asked to hold the cane, and I said no.

Stop feeling entitled to touch people's medical aids. Stop acting like they're not really necessary or important. Stop fucking breaking our shit.

[froggiethelesbian]

There’s something so intimate with seeing another disabled person in public. I was walking down the street with a friend to a cafe, my red cane in hand. Coming down from the opposite street was a young women with her friend. I saw her bedazzled cane, covered in stickers and art then looked up to her eyes. She had been looking at my cane, covered head to toe in stickers, before looking up to me. We both smiled and kept walking.But with no words spoken there was a message.

“You’re just like me. We are both here, living our lives, walking with a friend like everyone else. We exist, not just online but here in person, we are not alone.”

[barbielore]

In 1997, Mattel debuted Barbie's friend Becky as the doll "Share a Smile Becky", the first character in the Barbie range to use a wheelchair. She was a tie-in product for the National Parent Network on Disabilities and the National Lekotek Center.

Becky appeared in two subsequent releases: Becky, School Photographer and Becky, Paralympic Champion, in 1998 and 1999 respectively.

(Notice how Paralympic Champion Becky is holding a bottle of water! Stay hydrated, kids!)

Becky has not officially appeared since. There was some controversy about Becky upon release, partially because her release made it apparent that the Barbie Dreamhouse was not wheelchair accessible - Becky's chair could not fit through the front door, or the elevator of the Dreamhouse. This meant that Becky was not exactly compatible with other parts of the Barbie range.

Becky's lack of recent appearances does not mean there is no disability representation in the current Mattel lineup though. As a part of the Barbie fashionista range, there are now Barbie dolls with...

...prosthetic limbs...

...wheelchairs...

...and vitiligo!

[sassypotatoe1]

Hey can we talk about the non-traditional ways digital devices can be disability aids? Like yes screen readers AACs digital health monitors all incredibly important, and I've heard far too many stories of how teachers and those in positions of authority over disabled people have confiscated, refused access to or damaged these devices, most famously that one person on reddit whose teacher cut the line for their insulin pump thinking it was earphone wires, but I also want to talk about the less traditional uses of digital devices like cellphones in aiding disability and how 'phone-free' areas like schools or exams or some crazy businesses and company offices, is terribly discriminatory.

Before fights break out in the comments people who use traditional digital devices and aids are allowed to still share their experiences, it is in fact encouraged, because while I do want to focus the discussion on how people use regular ol smartphones etc. to aid in managing their disabilities and why denying them access to said phones or shaming, harassing or assaulting them for using a phone in "inappropriate settings" to manage their disability, people who use things like AACs, smart watches and other monitors and digital insulin pumps etc. Are also affected by hard bans on the use of digital devices in certain settings because, as with the above example, insulin pumps can be mistaken for earphone cables and smart watches used for disabilities like pots can also be banned because they "make it easy to cheat on tests" etc.

So sound off in the notes. How do you use digital devices in a non-traditional way to help you manage your disability? And in what ways have being denied access to these devices impacted your health and well-being? The reason I want to have this discussion is because I want people reading the notes and reblogs to learn ways that they can use these devices to manage their own disabilities and conditions, work against internalized shame surrounding being dependent on devices and create conversation that will empower disabled and chronically ill people to advocate for the allowance of digital devices such as cellphones into spaces where they're explicitly banned because they are being used as disability aids. I mean allow devices because they're being used as aids not devices banned because they're used as aids.

[sprinklesharkie]

haiii it's disability pride month i really wanted to show off all the stickers i finally put on my crutches !!! theyr so cute ^-^

[mxmorbidmidnight]

Why do PE teachers have it out for disabled kids? Did god himself descend to earth to tell these middle aged men to force disabled children to play dodgeball?!!? Sure I’ll run the fucking beep test but only if you’re willing to dig my grave and bring cucumber sandwiches to my funeral.

[cubes-uterus-sucks]

Being called a cripple by my friend: Fine! usually meant as a joke but they are still respectful of my illness.

Being called a cripple by someone who isn't my friend: Not ok. Ment as a joke but it isn't funny

[saym0-0]

guyysss i have such a good angsty teen/human au brewing in my brain,, gem and grian's snails are involved. they're these guys

(african giant land snails)

au rambling under the cut vv

basically the au follows gem, from when her house blows up due to a gas leak when shes at a sleepover at her friends house (sausage pearl and grian) when shes 14 through her working through her trauma from that event and into adulthood

its more fleshed out than that i promise 🫶🫶

grian has two pet snails and immediately gives one to gem when he finds out she's staying with them for a few weeks because her house blew up

fwhip and gem are twins and fwhip got very blown up oops. hes an ambulatory wheelchair user and an amputee (his right leg below the knee). he doesn't get a prosthetic fr a long time bc they're not a super well off family in the first place so he prioritises a good wheelchair and you know. a house. over a prosthetic for a pretty long while (a few years at least)

sausage is their half brother but lives with pearl and grian (and impulse! hes their dad. and maybe skizz. i think it would be funny if they adopted three kids together as homies) because his dad died and their family wasnt in the right financial situation to support three children. at least he stayed close?

uh yeah theres still more to it but still. gem gets a skateboard at some point and she and fwhip race down hills to see whos set of wheels is the fastest

[green-dog-apple]

What possesses someone to just grab someone else’s mobility aid? There is literally no other situation I’ve been in where someone just saw something of mine and grabbed it AFTER asking what it was and me saying it’s a cane. Not just that, but then they went “damn, how old are you?” I FUCKING FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL. YOU KNOW THAT. WE ARE THE SAME AGE. Stop fucking grabbing my shit.

[kireoppi]

i never thought i'd have to deal with people touching my aids and playing with them until school.

[the-shape-shifting-system]

First (full lol, we bought it yesterday evening) day with a cane! Our arm doesn't like us, but it helps with our balance issues and our legs' chronic pains, so we'll just take it.

We need to customise it, but we've bought a few things today to help with that. We just need stickers (which, we could make sorta stickers ourselves I suppose but I hope we can find actual cool stickers).

[feverdreamsandlucidnightmares]

My favorite band will be in my city in 2 weeks and I am running out of time to figure out if I am physically able to go to a punk rock concert bc the last time I did I actually passed out and I’ve only gotten worse since then but it’s my favorite band

Objectively this is a horrible idea, I’ll have been at work all day, I have a doctors appointment and class the next morning, it’s an hour by public transit to get to the venue, and there’s a chance my cane gets damaged if I bring it. I struggle to stand for long periods of time and have a history of fainting. But. Tickets are $60 and I have no other events or anything this month so that’s doable. But I might fuck up my whole week to do it. And I’d be going alone.

But. It’s my life to fuck up. I think I’m going to do it

[autism-swagger]

I HATE BEING DISABLED!!!!!!!!!!

[sickpunk-selfshipper]

CN: food mentioned, workplace/ school setting

You and your F/O are at the cafeteria/ canteen of your workplace/ school/ college

You brought your mobility aid and didn’t have time to put it away/ store it someplace before your F/O talked you into getting lunch with them

When the two of you reach the meal trays, you pause

You need both hands to carry a tray but your mobility aid is taking up at least one of your arms

Your F/O gently reaches for your aid, stopping short, “Okay if I take this? You’d carry the tray.”

You decide to let them take a tray and just put your meal and silverware on it next to theirs

Or you feel steady enough and comfortable handing off your mobility aid, so your F/O takes it and stays close by while you collect both your meals

As soon as you put down the meal tray, your F/O is handing back your mobility aid. Not mentioning it as the two of you sit down and divide the two sets of silverware and plates

antis DNI! This post isn’t for anti-shippers