There is a culture in today’s world that the majority of disabled people are faking it! Contrary to belief and we know who started the rumour, (yes the government, so they can condone their actions regarding austerity, ATOS, PIP assessments, UC etc all of which were designed to fail, except austerity of course). Fakers are few and far between! Disabled parking bay abusers are a much more common daily occurrence but that doesn’t cost the government money, so of no interest to change or enforce.
The media have contributed to this culture by seemingly creating two types of disabled people: inspirational/sporting “look what they can do”, or lying scroungers. So if I can’t partake in sport/Olympics and represent my country, I must be a faker? This is the problem! What people are forgetting is that our Olympians are sponsored by many different companies, their equipment, (wheelchairs, artificial limbs etc) cost thousands and thousands of pounds to help them achieve their goals. This IS why they can do what they do, plus the years and years of training they do!! If you are Joe Bloggs, believe me, you are given what you’re given and made feel you should be grateful for that much. My husband who was also born with his disability wears an artificial leg, he went to his GP to ask him to sign the form necessary to apply for a freedom pass, the GP responded by saying “how can you class yourself disabled when we have Olympians with artificial limbs”? Needless to say, he didn’t sign the form!!!! So when up against attitudes like that, why would anyone want to FAKE being disabled?
Able-bodied people will never & can never understand why we (disable people) NEED the things we fight for, like, accessibility, adapted housing, barriers removed, attitudes changed. How can they? They don’t have to live the life we live. They are blessed with being able to take most things we HAVE to fight for, for granted!! For example, let’s take something simple: Busses: Disabled people fought for many many years to get the wheelchair space implemented, now everyone wants to use it. Some parents with buggies will not move from that space if a wheelchair user needs it, believing it is their RIGHT to stay put!! Well let’s see now, the sign on the busses says what exactly:
“Should a wheelchair user wish to use this space, please move to another part of the bus”. So when I am left again feeling downtrodden, embarrassed, a burden, angry, wet & cold, yes I fake my disability. So, when it’s obviously clear, you are asked to move, this self-righteous attitude some of you have adopted is quite obnoxious! At the end of the day, you CAN take your child out of the buggy, fold said buggy and move, I CAN’T get out of my wheelchair and sit on a seat and fold my chair, no matter how much I would love to be able to do that.
The hate & personal attacks shown to disabled people is fed by the fact you are made to believe we are receiving special treatment or an added extra. This then makes you believe we must be faking it to get said treatment. So…………
When I’m having to have another painful procedure to unblock my catheter that’s caused another urinary infection, or radio-frequency facet joint injections into my spine to try to alleviate my pain, I mean, there’s no guarantee they are going to work!
I am suffering the terrible side effects of the medication I have to take just to keep me alive.
Losing friends because they have no idea what it is like to live my life and have no patience.
Stuck in bed again because I’m in too much pain to be able to move.
Losing the career I love because my employer sacked me due to the amount of sick time I have to take.
The list goes on and on and on!!!
Just because I have a smile on my face, doesn’t mean I’m ok!!
All the stuff disabled people fight for can take many years to get changed or implemented and most are not even achieved. All we want is to have the same quality of life most able-bodied people take for granted. The trouble is, the things we fight for often don’t even help as disabled people are not listened to so the entity making the changes rarely ever get it right. You believe it is special treatment and extra because something has to be an add-on feature because, in the structure of life, disabled people are forgotten about.
YES, I FAKE MY DISABILITY!!!!!!!!
About Cazbarr
Cazbarr is a full-time wheelchair user, who was born with a disability called Arthrogryposis. Primarily she blogs about her disability, her experiences holidaying as a full-time wheelchair user, along with honest products & service reviews.
If you would like to work with Cazbarr, just drop her line on the Contact page.
