Feeling Self-Conscious About Using a Wheelchair

I’m 22 and use a wheelchair on bad days. I definitely feel self conscious and judged when I use it. It sounds kinda weird, but something that helps me is remembering that a lot of people are very ignorant and uneducated when it comes to illnesses, especially invisible illnesses. And reminding myself that I don’t need to justify any aid or accommodation to anyone. I know what I’m dealing with and no one else’s opinion matters. Sending love and support 🤍

I know how you feel people look at me weird when I use my wheelchair which it more now cause my balance is really bad

Yep.. I just try to remind myself that I don’t owe anyone an explanation, and that my wheelchair/walker make it possible for me to leave the house for more than an hour at a time. My quality of life is more than worth it

I also am an ambulatory wheelchair user. I also suffer from some common health issues, I still get anxiety when going out in public. I still get embarrassed and I'm 4 1/2 years older than you,

Good way to think of it if you're can't help you then what the hell do you care about other people I started using a cane around age 15 and 25 right now and going on 26 very soon have a paralyzed tip so I really do need the cane and for my experience using it there's a lot of aholes out there that tend to think I'm just using this for show or something I got myself a nice colorful cane because I needed one and I didn't want to to have that stainless steel standard so I get a few more stairs but I actually get a lot of confidence on it from a lot of people that are very nice to me about my situation

It's funny I've been using a cane for between 10 and 11 years and I completely understand where you're coming from it's not really the most flattering thing in the world to need a thing like a cane or a wheelchair to get around but sometimes it can be useful some people are pretty nice about it some people can be complete self-absorbed and not aware of their surroundings but don't feel bad about it at all me you and screw anybody else that doesn't like that they're not you and they don't know the situation so don't let other people's looks or glares get you down ever

To preface, I use a wheelchair, walker, cane, and braces and I'm 17. Able-bodied people tend to get squeamish when they don't have a perfect vision of what a disabled person looks like. When a young person is in a wheelchair they tend to become either confused or scared, and want to downplay the issue or try to rationalize it in a way they understand. They don't always understand that disabilities affect young people, and so they become confused and try to make sense of it, which is why they give odd looks. People constantly come up to me and bombard me with uncomfortable questions or comments, and try to make sense of it because we are somewhat of a spectacle in their eyes and they don't understand basic respect. For the most part, these people are going to continue because of ignorance, and I'm not trying to generalize abled people but most of them do this. Just do what helps you and meet your own needs because people will judge no matter what.

i definitely get this whenever i use any type of mobility aid. or when I used disabled parking and don’t have an aid. i’ll try to ignore it, or be super open about what I’m going through. I know other people like to make jokes about it