But despite how life-changing mobility aids can be for the people who need them, they are also heavily stigmatized. A 2024 study in Disability and Health Journal that surveyed 60 wheelchair users found themes of feeling “patronized.” “People are weird about it,” reported one wheelchair user. “I often have people just openly stare or come up and ask invasive questions.”
Josie Tang, a 21-year-old artist based in Cornwall, England, uses a variety of mobility aids to manage hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). Tang is constantly exhausted, and their joints are unstable, leaving them prone to falling. As their mobility declined, they swapped out walking sticks for forearm crutches, a rollator, and wheelchairs.
Unfortunately, Tang often deals with discriminatory comments, both online and in person. “I was walking on the beach with two friends who were disabled. We were all using a stick or a crutch, and we passed a pair of older women,” Tang says. “They were like, ‘So you’re practicing what it’s like to be older then?’ And I wish I had said, ‘No, we just live with debilitating pain.’” Strangers have knocked on Tang’s car window to ask why they’re using a handicap parking spot, despite clearly having a Blue Badge placard in their car.
But a number of her patients deal with negative messages from their peers and families. Some are bullied or called “lazy” to the point that they decline using mobility aids to avoid what other people will think or say.
Normalizing the use of mobility aids is only becoming more vital as the rate of disability has increased. In 2019, there were roughly 41 million noninstitutionalized people with disabilities in the U.S., per the Census Bureau. By 2024, that number had risen to almost 46 million. COVID created a significant new population with invisible disabilities, as approximately 6% of people who get sick with the virus go on to develop Long COVID. And people with pre-existing conditions, including autoimmune conditions, are at a higher risk.
ME/CFS is characterized by post-exertional malaise, an “increase in frequency or severity of symptoms” or new symptoms 12 to 48 hours after an activity, Taylor explains. The symptoms are not proportional to the activity and can last from days to weeks, or more. That delay, paired with unpredictable triggers including heat or cleaning products, often makes the condition extremely difficult to manage. Using a wheelchair can be a vital lifeline.
Though a wheelchair is the visual symbol for disability internationally, it’s far from the only tool. These days, Tang primarily uses a forearm crutch to walk around their neighborhood, as it fits on the narrow sidewalks. Their home, which they share with a roommate who is also disabled, is too small for an electric wheelchair. And while a regular wheelchair gives them some help moving freely, “they’re hard to propel,” says Tang. “Also, if you have hEDS, your shoulder might dislocate, which mine have.”
Stories like Tang’s make me excited to finally have mobility aids of my own. I’ve spent enough time fearing discrimination and robbing myself of experiences.
If I can learn to take the next step in taking care of myself, I hope others can, too.
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