Autistics are People too

Disclaimer: Though I have been using a cane for 6 years, I am not a doctor, nor am I by any means an expert. This guide is true to my experience, but there are as many ways to use a cane as there are cane users!

This guide will not include: White canes for blindness, crutches, walkers, or wheelchairs as I have no personal experience with these.

This is meant to be a general guide to get you started and avoid some common mishaps/misconceptions in your writing, but you absolutely should continue to do your own research outside of this guide!

This is NOT a medical resource!!! And never tell a real person you think they're using a cane wrong!

The biggest recurring problem I've seen is using the cane on the wrong side. The cane goes on the opposite side of the pain! If your character has even-sided pain or needs it for balance/weakness, then use the cane in the non-dominant hand to keep the dominant hand free. Some cane users also switch sides to give their arm a rest!

A cane takes about 20% of your weight off the opposite leg. It should fit within your natural gait and become something of an extension of your body. If you need more weight off than 20%, then crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair is needed.

Putting more pressure on the cane, using it on the wrong side, or having it at the wrong height can make it less effective, and can cause long term damage to your body from improper pressure and posture. (Hugh Laurie genuinely hurt his body from years of using a cane wrong on House!)

(some people elect to use a cane wrong for their personal situation despite this, everyone is different!)

(an animated GIF of a cane matching the natural walking gait. It turns red when pressure is placed on it.)

When going up and down stairs, there is an ideal standard: You want to use the handrail and the cane at the same time, or prioritize the handrail if it's only on one side. When going up stairs you lead with your good leg and follow with the cane and hurt leg together. When going down stairs you lead with the cane and the bad leg and follow with the good leg!

Realistically though, many people don't move out of the way for cane users to access the railing, many stairs don't have railings, and many are wet, rusty, or generally not ideal to grip.

In these cases, if you have a friend nearby, holding on to them is a good idea. Or, take it one step at a time carefully if you're alone.

Now we come to a very common mistake I see... Using fashion canes for medical use!

(These are 4 broad shapes, but there is INCREDIBLE variation in cane handles. Research heavily what will be best for your character's specific needs!)

The handle is the contact point for all the weight you're putting on your cane, and that pressure is being put onto your hand, wrist, and shoulder. So the shape is very important for long term use!

Knob handles (and very decorative handles) are not used for medical use for this reason. It adds extra stress to the body and can damage your hand to put constant pressure onto these painful shapes.

The weight of a cane is also incredibly important, as a heavier cane will cause wear on your body much faster. When you're using it all day, it gets heavy fast! If your character struggles with weakness, then they won't want a heavy cane if they can help it!

This is also part of why sword canes aren't usually very viable for medical use (along with them usually being knob handles) is that swords are extra weight!

However, a small knife or perhaps a retractable blade hidden within the base might be viable even for weak characters.

Bases have a lot of variability as well, and the modern standard is generally adjustable bases. Adjustable canes are very handy if your character regularly changes shoe height, for instance (gotta keep the height at your hip!)

Canes help on most terrain with their standard base and structure. But for some terrain, you might want a different base, or to forego the cane entirely! This article covers it pretty well.

Many cane users decorate their canes! Stickers are incredibly common, and painting canes is relatively common as well! You'll also see people replacing the standard wrist strap with a personalized one, or even adding a small charm to the ring the strap connects to. (nothing too large, or it gets annoying as the cane is swinging around everywhere)

(my canes, for reference)

If your character uses a cane full time, then they might also have multiple canes that look different aesthetically to match their outfits!

When it comes to practical things outside of the cane, you reasonably only have one hand available while it's being used. Many people will hook their cane onto their arm or let it dangle on the strap (if they have one) while using their cane arm, but it's often significantly less convenient than 2 hands. But, if you need 2 hands, then it's either setting the cane down or letting it hang!

For this reason, optimizing one handed use is ideal! Keeping bags/items on the side of your free hand helps keep your items accessible.

When sitting, the cane either leans against a wall or table, goes under the chair, or hooks onto the back of the chair. (It often falls when hanging off of a chair, in my experience)

When getting up, the user will either use their cane to help them balance/support as they stand, or get up and then grab their cane. This depends on what it's being used for (balance vs pain when walking, for instance!)

That's everything I can think of for now. Thank you for reading my long-but-absolutely-not-comprehensive list of things to keep in mind when writing or drawing a cane user!

i love the scene post DR where robin comes to talk to law and he just doesnt say anything it's so funny it makes me cry

There's no specified diagnosis, I'm just out here throwing my symptoms at Rumi as someone who's potentially chronically ill

Internalized her symptoms as flaws, and therefore never sought help and preferred to pretend they weren't there, much like with her patterns

Doesn't get diagnosed until post-movie(only ever saw a doctor for shots and stops going when patterns spread to both arms)

Was really sickly as a child and often ran insane fevers for insane amounts of times(once ran 104° for two weeks)

Hid her symptoms as best she could even from Celine because she already felt bad for "burdening" her by just existence

On bad pain days, she'd cry in bed, secretly wishing Celine would come in and ask what's wrong so she wouldn't have to hide this too. Celine never came in

Was chronically underweight as kid due to a mix of persistent nausea, getting sick and not wanting to eat, and training when she could

Being underweight like that often garnered her praise, and it's something she took pride in because of that

As she got older and got sick less(still more than the average person), she was able to eat more, putting on weight. This led to a lot of online criticism that evolved into an eating disorder

Mira and Zoey don't know about the ED persay, but they have their suspicions. They dont want Rumi to push them away, so they sort of just pretend they don't notice and trick her into eating at least a little when it's bad

Places with the most pain tend to be her wrists, knees, hips, and lower back. Shoulders, neck, and feet also hurt but a lot less

On bad days she pushes more than she would normally because she feels she should be "better than this"

On really good day, like basically no pain good days, she also pushes too hard, leading to days of agony to follow

Shit at recognizing her own limits

Lightheaded queen. Has only actually collapsed a handful of times, but she will move too fast and need to lean on something or sit down

Sun sensitive, it zaps her energy and makes her dizziness worse

"Do you have a headache?" Better question is when does she not have a headache? Sometimes gets migraines and has to just turn her room into a D.I.Y sensory deprivation chamber

Gets random bouts of extreme shakiness, making it hard to hold things and is just generally uncomfortable because of how awful it feels to walk on unsteady legs

Mira and Zoey are so on top of Rumi's health but not more on top of it than Bobby

Post-Canon Derpy is the uncertified service tiger we all need. He makes Rumi lean on him for support, makes her sit and lays on her so she stays there, gets Zoey and Mira when needed

Is very insecure about her illness and often needs reassurance from her girlfriends about not being a burden.

Doesnt go public about her struggles with her health for awhile but when she thinks of all the people that listen to Huntr/x and would feel less alone knowing their Idol also struggles them, she makes the decision to be more transparent

It receives a weird amount of criticism because the industry isn't kind to its idols, and some incels are upset that their perfect image of Rumi got "ruined"

Post-Reconcilliation Celine is Rumi's second biggest advocate(first being Mira)

She often feels guilty that Rumi didn't get diagnosed sooner because of her flawed parenting

Is almost overbearing in checking in on Rumi, always sending a texts like "have you eaten?" "Did you take your meds?" "I hope the concert wasnt too harsh on your body"

clingy rumi