You all need to start using those provided wheelchairs, when you need them.
Listen to me. Listen. As a wheelchair-user, I'm telling you that you need to get over whatever hesitations are stopping you from using a mobility aid that would greatly reduce your exhaustion/pain, or would keep you safe. Use. The. Wheelchair.
I'm not talking about permanently transitioning to wheeling around as your full-time mode of movement; that's a whole other level of personal introspection, and I cannot make that decision for you. I'm talking about using a provided wheelchair for temporary things like supermarkets, airports, museums (when those used to be open), etc. You know, when you go into certain businesses, and, near the front doors, you see a line of wheelchairs, for customers to use? Those things. Use those things.
"But I can manage without one."
Can you? Can you actually manage? Or can you say that you're managing, while putting yourself through extreme levels of pain and exhaustion, which you force yourself through, in order to keep up the 'I'm managing' charade?
"But those are for disabled people."
"I don't call myself 'disabled'."
I don't care what you call yourself or what you call that chair with wheels; if it will genuinely help you, take the opportunity!
"But there are people who are more disabled than me."
And people who are less disabled than you. Use the wheelchair.
"But what if I take the wheelchair, for me and my access needs, but doing so takes away from someone else's access needs?"
Look, if you all keep thinking that, nobody's going to take the wheelchair, and you're all going to be suffering!
It's not selfish to look after your own body and your own needs. You're surviving! You're living! And you're allowed to do that!
"They won't let me use the wheelchair!"
Yeah, that's a whole other problem. Fight it. If you don't have the energy to fight it, find someone (like me) who will fight it, for you. If you need the wheelchair, and the business has provided wheelchairs, they are legally obligated to provide you a wheelchair, if you ask for it. And no, you don't need documentation. You have rights.
"But isn't it just easier to walk?"
"But I still feel guilty!"
Don't be! That's what I'm trying to tell you!
"You can't change my mind with one passionate tumblr post."
"But people are going to judge me!"
Yeah...yeah, they will...but here's the thing: which pain do you want to go through? The pain of a bunch of strangers judging you for one second of their lives, or the physical pain and exhaustion that will come from 'managing'?
Look, this world is ableist, and disablist, and there are so many different sociopolitical stigmas that come with the label 'disability'. I get it. Trust me, I get it. I face these everyday (my PhD is about these exact sociopolitical factors, and when I study them as a wheelchair-user, I literally can never get away from the topic). I get why you're hesitating.
But if you need a wheelchair to go around a supermarket (etc.), if your life, safety, and health will be benefited by using a mobility aid that is literally there for you to use it, even if it's just temporary...
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