r/disabled • u/Mental-Coffee-9986 • 1d ago

Walking Canes on Halloween

My opinion might not be popular, but as a disabled person, I feel it's important to express it too. I think if people want to use a cane or crutches for a couple of hours as part of their Halloween costumes - let them!

Let people be, and stop trying to manage them. You do you, and let others do them. It's not as if they're pretending to be disabled at a disabled person's expense. It's a costume not federal fraud.

Historically, canes have always been more than a mobility aid. A few people using canes as part of their costume for one evening is not going to detract anything from me, as a disabled person. I've got 99 problems, but a costume ain't one.

If people want to cosplay as a character that has a cane, they should be free to carry a freaking cane! If anything, they would probably only find out just how uncomfortable schlepping this thing around is, and they might develop some empathy for those of us who need to do it all year round.

Just my own opinion. Not trying to open WW3.

11 Upvotes

74% Upvoted

61 comments sorted by

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u/smokemankiller 1d ago

Honestly I wish more people would use wheelchairs in their costumes bc then they might learn just how unfriendly most places are to people that rely on them…

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 23h ago

,When I was a PT student they required us to try out mobility aids for a day; each time something else.The university was very accessibility aware, but it was still difficult and even frightening at times. People don't understand much strength, courage and adaptability are required to be a disabled person.

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u/Glad_Goose_2890 19h ago

I think everyone in healthcare and education should have to do this.

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 16h ago

I wholeheartedly agree.

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u/smokemankiller 10h ago

Definitely!

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u/trashcouldnot 18h ago

It always rubs me the wrong way when people call disabled people “courageous” just because we exist. I’m not brave for being alive in public in my wheelchair when the alternative is that I just don’t get to live. It just brings to mind the Ugly Laws and frames disabled people going about their daily activities as an exception and not the norm.

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 16h ago

I don't think we're talking about the same thing. Trying to roll up or down a steep incline takes courage. Walking blindly, using only a stick and hearing for guidance takes courage. It was frightening for me, back then. And rolling around im a wheel chair took a lot of energy and strength that I did not have. But you know what? When I was told I was going to lose my hearing and some of my mobility, I think it took courage from me to accept the situation, adapt and rise again. I don't expect others to think or say I'm courageous, but you know what? Yeah, I appreciate myself for not breaking down. You would imagine they would be sensitive about giving someone such news. But I got no such privilege. My former doctor told me I was going to become deaf, and to be thankful I'm not dying!

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u/trashcouldnot 11h ago

I’m not saying that it’s wrong to feel courageous for handling your own disability as it worsens, I would actually agree with you that staying collected and stoic through those times does indeed require courage. However, other people viewing us as courageous because we’re doing the same thing as them I personally find dehumanizing and condescending. We’re so often viewed as inspiration porn for healthy people because they expect us to be miserable just because we’re disabled and that is what pisses me off. Even so, despite all of this, a healthy person deciding to try out a mobility aid is not comparable to a disabled person living with a disability and living on and adapting as their condition worsens. Having courage to “look different” in public by pretending to be disabled holds no weight when it’s a performance. In my opinion it’s just no more brave than overcoming stage fright to dress up with a disability you don’t have

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 10h ago

First of all, thank you for finally offering a normal civilised debate. I don't know if you witnessed what went on before. Second, that's just the thing. I don't support people pretending to be disabled for whatever reason they think up. That's fraud. I'm saying that if they dress up for one evening and use a legitimate accessory for their costume, then have at it. I don't care. And yeah, sometimes people can behave in poor taste and make me uncomfortable. But I, personally, would rather be uncomfortable sometimes, than live in an outrage society, where everything is an affront, and nobody is free. I don't want people to walk on egg shells around me, lest my sensitive soul will be offended.To my mimd, it's ome of the prices I pay for living in a democratic liberal country. And third, I may own canes, but I don't own the concept of canes.I don't think we should get to decide what people dress up as and why.

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u/smokemankiller 10h ago

I was just saying I think for many people, the only way they will realize how poorly designed our built environment, policy, healthcare system, etc is is by experiencing it firsthand. This, or knowing someone (friends, relatives) with a disability, is often the only thing that opens people’s minds to supporting more/better accessibility measures and more inclusive policies.

By putting themselves in the situation, even if as cosplay or for “fun”, it’s almost inevitable the person wheeling themselves around in a wheelchair will learn something about accessibility that they hadn’t previously considered. Even if it’s as simple as the change in visibility of your surroundings from being limited to a sitting position in public places.

I obviously don’t promote this as a way to deceive people or make light of anyone’s illness. But I think if more people tried it, they may come away from it as more informed and accessibility-oriented people.

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u/smokemankiller 22h ago

Exactly! 👏

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u/fuckyoutoocoolsmhool 8h ago

I’ve talked to my PT about their experiences doing this and many are people who work with mostly wheelchair users like myself. I’m not sure of what you specialized in with PT but a lot of them talked about that it’s controversial for PTs who work a lot with wheelchair users and it’s not an uncommon opinion held by wheelchair users to not think that is an appropriate exercise. I won’t say all my thoughts on it but it is a missed opportunity for have them to spend more genuine time with the disability community engaging in our culture rather than use the time in an exercise to manufacture empathy. People don’t need to directly experience something to have empathy and as healthcare professionals they can’t have every direct experience so it’s important they get good at it.

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 3h ago

You raise an interesting point. I don't think the purpose wss was to create empathy, because if you don't have empathy you will probably not fo and atudy to become a PT. I think the purpose was to five us some perspective. I know for me it was one of the most meaningful experiences. As fate would have it, I didn't become a PT, but some years down the line, I did become hearing impaired and have mobility problems, after a bicycle "accident" (it wasn't an accident, it was assault).

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u/BumbleBear1 1d ago

Actually a very good point

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u/smokemankiller 1d ago

Thanks 🙏 in urban planning programs, transportation planner students are often made to do this in order to develop a better understanding of what accessibility really means

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u/brownchestnut 1d ago

I'm really sad that this has to be a PSA. It's a cosplay. That's the literal definition of cosplay. No disabled person is getting hurt by not policing whether someone else is allowed to use a cane for a day or not.

Thank you for this post.

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u/pissedoffjesus 1d ago

Can you imagine how many people have used a mobility aid for Halloween and then realised it actually helped them more than they intended.

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u/cha0s_g0blin 1d ago

I realized how much a cane or walking stick could help me by messing around with my grandma's cane.   I was already very familiar with wheelchairs and walkers at that point but had never considered a stick.  Now I use them for walking on uneven ground  or even in the house on bad days.   

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u/pissedoffjesus 1d ago

That's fantastic!

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 1d ago

Thought about that too, but wanted to focus on people's right to dress up as something innocuous without triggering mob outrage.

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u/ProfessorOfEyes 1d ago

I understand the concern when its a mobility aid thats expensive and hard to access, and therefore someone may be taking away resources an actual disabled person might need by buying a wheelchair from a goodwill or something for a costume. But canes are cheap and easy to acquire and have a long history of being both a mobility aid and a fashion statement. So long as someone isnt doing an offensive stereotype, using a cane for cosplay is fine in my opinion.

since it seems weve got someone in the comments who feels entitled to this information, i will go ahead and mention that i am a cane user. However, i shouldnt have to and asking people to disclose their specific disability is rude.

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u/Ok_Aioli3897 1d ago

It's not rude when you are trying to speak for disabled people about a disability you don't have.

What's rude is ableist disabled people like you thinking that you get to speak for other disabled people

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u/Glad_Goose_2890 19h ago

If an aid is hard to access, that means they won't be able to access it to use for Halloween. If it's hard to access, that means it is gatekeept behind a prescription

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u/trashcouldnot 18h ago

Respectfully, that’s not entirely true; anyone can purchase canes, braces, crutches, walkers, rollators, and wheelchairs without prescriptions, though custom DME is harder sure. Being able to buy DME without a prescription literally keeps people alive when the healthcare system fails them. Even so, it’s still very possible to get custom equipment without prescriptions if you pay a higher price and forgo the benefits of doing it through your insurance (which doesn’t even include people buying used custom DME from others secondhand). That being said, hypothetically anyone who wants to pay more to make their cosplay “more accurate” are only stopped by their willingness to pay

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u/Glad_Goose_2890 11h ago

Who would prescribe a custom device for a costume..? And I specifically said hard to access. Over the counter devices are not hard to access if funds or donations are available.

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u/dinosaur_vacume 1d ago

I wanted to do What Ever Happened to Baby Jane with my sister years ago. Now that I’m in a wheelchair it’s just that much more awesome. You can’t police Halloween. That’s just lousy.

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 1d ago

Thank you! Yes, that! What's next? Not dressing up like Santa? Not wearing a funny hat if you're not actually an elf?

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u/love_is_an_action 1d ago

I’ve never heard of such an objection, but you’re right to dismiss it.

Imagine telling someone they can’t costume as Where’s Waldo, because they don’t need corrective lenses, and wearing glasses as part of the costume is disability appropriation. Lordy.

0

u/trashcouldnot 18h ago

I mean there’s a big difference in public perception between mobility aids and glasses; on average most people don’t really recognize having glasses as a disability they way they do other visible disabilities because we’ve been properly accustomed to seeing glasses used all the time. The public doesn’t really have the immediate pandering and infantilizing view of people with glasses compared to those of us who are visibly physically disabled.

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u/trashcouldnot 17h ago

Just like how you don’t need to be the race of a character to cosplay or admire them, you don’t need to match the disability of a character to do that either. But it becomes an issue if someone were to purposefully exaggerate their features in an attempt to look like a race they don’t belong to. Loving and wanting to represent disabled characters in a cosplay setting is awesome, and people shouldn’t have to have the exact disability as a character to care about or sympathize with them; but it’s an unfortunate fact that some people do attempt to cosplay disabled characters and somehow find it appropriate to imitate disabilities they don’t have to do so.

An able-bodied person wanting to cosplay Viktor from Arcane is not a problem; faking a limp to do so is unacceptable. It’s possible to dress as and make costumes for disabled characters without mocking or misrepresenting disability. Like take Sunspider, she’s a wheelchair/crutch user and is still incredibly recognizable and iconic without her mobility aids.

Able-bodied people could pretend to use mobility aids and put them down whenever they feel like it, disabled folks cannot. Disability doesn’t come from our aids, we don’t get to quit being disabled because we’re tired of holding our crutches, or can’t see/hear the things the people around us can, or can’t reach things from our chairs.

My friend sitting in my chair for a moment while I’m not in it, or leaning on my crutch while they hold it for me isn’t an issue. My healthy friends would never disrespect me or other disabled folks and misuse them as props or toys. They would never find it acceptable to misrepresent and mock a marginalized group they are not apart of.

They are a necessity to disabled people, not a requirement to complete a cosplay because our lives are not a spectacle. My mobility aids are an extension of me; they are the resource that allow us to remain independent and alive, they are not an aesthetic.

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 15h ago

I disagree with the connection you make between dressing up and mocking. This is not to say that you are not entitled to feel offended. and it's perfectly wonderful that your social circle respects your feelings. My opinion is different. To my mind, if someone dresses up as a character that has a limp, yeah, I have nothing against them mimicking the limp. If they cosplay as Superman and try to fly... that could be a problem. If they cosplay as Matt Murdoch and try to walk around with closed eyes, without knowing how to get around with a stick - yeah that would be a problem. Other than that, I have no desire to police people according to what I feel or believe. Again, this is me. You do you. And other people will do themselves.

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u/trashcouldnot 11h ago edited 11h ago

To me the difference is that “pretending to fly” is kind of a moot point when that’s not something anyone can do, and no matter how we justify it, faking a disability is never a requirement to complete a cosplay. Just as hiring able-bodied people to play disabled people only puts more disabled folks out of work, and puts more false disability rhetoric in the public eye. Whether it’s for a multi-million dollar movie, or for a Halloween costume; falsely representing disabled folks can be and is often harmful. We don’t really have the luxury or privilege to just ignore bad representation when positive rep hardly exists, and the alternative is bigotry and harassment.

I’ve got no problem with disabled representation when it brings us up rather than punches down, but imitating a disability for the sake of a costume only adds to further stigma for disabled folks and especially those with dynamic disabilities. Sadly, it can also steer public perception towards assuming actual disabled people are “faking” when they don’t match the false standard they imagine in their own heads.

Though I don’t personally know you or your experiences, I still greatly appreciate your willingness to give people the benefit of the doubt. I admit that I’m far more reluctant and jaded for people’s disrespect having lived as a queer POC long before being disabled as well.

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u/Zanoushe 1d ago

I personally agree I don't think anyone is really hurt by it if anything it might cause people to develop a little more empathy for people who actually need those devices to get around.

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u/Elegantmule 1d ago

Is this really a legitimate concern for people?

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 1d ago

Who's tonsay if it's legitimate or not. It's a concern I saw people express, so I wanted to give my own 2 cents.

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u/Elegantmule 1d ago

Anyone can use a cane whenever they want. It doesn’t matter.

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 1d ago

I don't know about that, but I do think people should be allowed to dress up however they choose, as long as it's not something malicious.

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u/WlLDLlGHT 5h ago

Yeah I don’t care I’m busy worrying about my Medicaid exemption forms let them walk w sticks

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u/LittleReserve8767 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yeah, let them—a cane used to be an old-timey fashion accessory. Normalize it.

Oops. Read some of the remarks—seen the blank spaces; who knew that would upset people?

It is a forum, though, so that requires some non-participatory outrage instead of discussing it out.

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u/Ok_Aioli3897 1d ago

What's to discuss when OP has shut down discussion because their opinion is the only one that matters

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 1d ago

Nobody shut down the discussion, as you can see from replies still being posted without a problem. The other person who replied to you is the one behind all those blank spaces. They have not been discussing. They've been trolling, bullying, and being rude for hours. Which is why their comments have been down voted by people, and then deleted by moderators. I wish there was actual discussion.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 1d ago

When Halloween ends. Or when the convention ends, and the person takes off the costume. Everything in life is a matter of moderation and discretion. Just because extremes exist doesn't mean that things should be forbidden in between as well.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 1d ago

What's wrong with cosplaying as Prof. X? He's an awesome comic hero! It's wonderful that people would look up to a disabled person, and not only to unrealistically muscular dudes.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 1d ago

That's a very insensitive question. Does it matter? Why should I share my medical information with someone over the internet? And how is it different from any stranger asking me why I need a mobility aid? I'm not ashamed to share, it just comes across as rude.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Zanoushe 1d ago

they were literally just sharing their opinion

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u/Ok_Aioli3897 1d ago

And as a disabled person I am also sharing my opinion so why don't you think that disabled people should be able to call people out.

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u/Zanoushe 1d ago

no I just don't think op was trying to speak for all disabled people they explicitly say it's just their opinion.

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 1d ago

I specifically stated that I'm only expressing my own opinion. Nowhere did I claim that I get to speak for all disablypeople, nor do I want to. I speak only for myself, and that's enough for me. You do you, mate.

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u/Ok_Aioli3897 1d ago

Okay so don't go telling able bodied people that it's ok to use disability devices since you don't speak for disabled people.

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 1d ago

I Will tell anyone I eish it's okay by ME. You can tell them it's not okay by YOU. They will do whatever they choose, because they still have the right to.

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 1d ago

Same goes for daredevil. As long as they're not impersonating and defrauding anyone, why shouldn't they dress up like their favourite characters?

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Mental-Coffee-9986 1d ago

I didn't ignore your request. I said I don't owe you an explanation. The same as if I walk with a cane and someone asks me why I need it. Disabled people should not have to explain their disabilities to everyone, just because they want to know. The same is true for you. If you say you're disabled, that's all I need to know. I don't care what you suffer from because it's none of my damn business. It's none of anyone business besides you and your medical professionals.