#mobility devices

√enm0 • ¢a$happ • pa¥pa£

i found this one that is only $30+ shipping!

we talk about mobility aids as if they're these amazing, flawless pieces of equipment, but in reality, they can be hard to use, hard to maintain, sometimes bulky or weirdly designed, sometimes uncomfortable (even if helpful), sometimes don't fit your personal style, physical spaces are often not designed for them, etc.

they are also amazing pieces of equipment. they are tools of freedom, they improve a lot of disabled peoples' quality of life, and they're often worth the frustration. but they are still frustrating.

Hello,

Not very.

Most mobility aides are not structurally sound enough to be used as a weapon, meaning they would bend, dent, or otherwise break if used to strike someone or something. And if you are reliant on your mobility aid to get around, you wouldn't want to risk damaging it by using it as a weapon in a fight. You might need to use it to run away, and it's very hard to run away on dented crutches. Plus, if it's damaged, you will need to replace it, and replacing your mobility aid can be a real pain and very expensive. Unless they have one of those fancy canes that are specifically reinforced for combat purposes (which are hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars and far heavier than normal canes,) they'll either break their mobility aid or they won't put enough force behind the swing to do damage. It would be a desperate last resort measure.

(Plus, assuming your character can swing a cane or crutch hard enough to do actual damage, it would be very easy to accidentally put someone in the hospital or even the morgue. You aim an aluminium pole at someone's temple or neck and you run the risk of killing them even if you don't put a lot of force behind the swing. Same problem with the face. Hit them in the gut and you can damage organs, at the chest and you can accidentally snap ribs or stop the heart. Aim it at a joint and you could severely mess up said joint. Aim it at the back and you run the risk of messing up organs or the spinal cord. Aim it at any bone beyond something like the femur (trust me, hollow aluminium pole is not going to do more than bruise the femur unless you're Superman, you will break the cane or crutch long before you will so much as crack the femur) and you could cause a serious break, like an open or comminuted fracture. Even aiming it at a major blood vessel like the femoral could cause catastrophic internal bleeding or haemorrhaging. That's another reason it's a last resort measure, because if you can do actual damage, you're likely to do a lot of it. Remember, a mobility aid is still a metal pole. You would break it if you put enough force behind it to cause damage, but there is a potential for serious harm there that you don't want to take unless it's life-or-death.)

You could roll someone over with a rollator or wheelchair. I have seen people run over other people's feet using the wheels of their wheelchairs (one famous example is that Stephen Hawking used to run over the feet of people he did not like with his wheelchair.) You wouldn't be able to run over someone's body with it, that's far too uneven a terrain, but running over someone's foot or hand is plausible. Unlikely to do any real damage, but plausible and at least likely to hurt due to the number of nerves in the hand and foot.

Using a mobility aid as a weapon is a last resort measure- I've seen people state that they would sooner look for an improvised weapon such as a plank of wood before they considered using their cane or crutches to whack someone. If you're writing it as a last resort measure, yes, it can be realistic. But very few people are going to swing at someone's head with a cane if they're just in a little spat or are just sparring. Plus, using this trope just reinforces the idea that disabled people's mobility aids are threats. A cane or crutch is already seen by cops as a potential bludgeon, a prosthetic leg as a potential bomb, a wheelchair as somewhere you can hide weapons. Even though the use of mobility aids as weapons is a very rare occurrence, people assume it is more common, so everyone using a mobility aid is treated as a potential threat or even as if they've already done something wrong when they haven't. And if you attack someone with a mobility aid, it's seen by the law as less of a crime because "they have a weapon and just didn't use it." Best not to perpetuate the stereotype as it does have real-world consequences.

I'd give them some other form of weapons if you would like them to engage in armed combat.

15/02/2026 Doctor Beverly Crusher @SpaceDocMom Incoming Transmission…

In other words , even for an otherwise healthy person, they expect them not to have any issues pop up that could require them to take an extended period of time off. "Oh, you broke your leg this morning?" I'm sorry you still have to come to work, or it counts against you, and you could face termination.

I have a neck/back massager that can help relax it, but stretches/strengthening exercises need to be in play.

I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease when I was 40. It affects my balance, coordination, walking, stamina, and especially my hips. Things you need to stand and to walk. Like many people, it took several years of symptoms and tests before I got a diagnosis.

It took me about a year after diagnosis to accept that I would benefit from a cane, and another six months to accept that I would benefit from a rollator/walker.

I started using the cane pretty quickly after it arrived. I got a foldable one in a color I liked, and then ordered a gorgeous acrylic one that I actively love from www neo-walk.com so it wasn't a boring cane from the drugstore but a bright, sparkly, colorful one with a fancy strap. I loooove it. And it's so fucking helpful not just to help me not waste energy on trying to keep my balance and support me when I'm ever standing, but also the almost best part has been a visual signal to everyone that I have a disability. So on public transit, my shiny sparkly cane says get out of the disabled seat because I need it. I tap it on the ground and say excuse me and people move (un-fucking-surprisingly, white men aged like 25 to 55 are the most likely to ignore me, and brown women are the quickest to get up. I always target the white men sitting in disabled seats first for this reason.)

It took longer to actually use the rollator and I wish I used it sooner. I got an amazing, sleek, lightweight, maneuverable, modern one from www.byacre.com. I wrapped it in led twinkle lights. My rollator means I always always always have a seat and can rest, so I don't need to waste my spoons standing. It's the fucking BEST anytime there's a long ass walk and/or a line, like for my medical appointments (because the pt and the lab and the MRI and the pharmacy and the neuro are all in the same building but the building is a block long and seven stories high, and every one has their own check in and line to get to check in). It's fantastic waiting in lines at restaurants and in museums. And nothing is more delicious than getting yelled at for parking in a handicap space (with my placard) as I walk out of my car to my trunk ... And pull out my rollator. You were fucking saying? It's bullshit that people don't accept invisible disabilities, but damn does it help to have a visible mobility aid to shut people the fuck up

A rollator is also fucking fantastic for creating a personal bubble. People mostly don't notice canes and don't move out of my way, but people notice and make space for my rollator.

I wish I used mobility aids sooner instead of powering through and exhausting myself unnecessarily. I'm really really grateful to disabled content creators on Instagram who posted about how important and helpful their aids are, and how choosing more fun designs helped them feel good about their aids. My internalized ableism and denial did not want to accept that I would benefit from using these devices, but after soaking in the wise commentary of disabled creators, I got over myself. Mobility aids are for anyone that benefits from them. I have so much more energy and am so much safer (not falling or fainting) using my aids.

It really helped getting ones that didn't look "retirement home uncool" to me. Getting colorful, bright, pretty devices that I loved looking at made me feel a lot better. Also therapy.