Out and about today, I again caught myself doing something which I knew instantly had to stop. I’ve noted before how I’m noticing quite a few more people using wheelchairs and powerchairs these days, at least around London. There also seem to be a lot more people walking around with crutches, while not appearing to put any weight on them. The problem is, I seem to now feel a deep sense of suspicion or even rivalry whenever I see a fellow wheelchair user. I find myself trying to figure out whether they actually have a disability. These feelings were obviously brought about by my reflections on what I call cultural intrusion. Sometimes it’s quite clear that they have a disability just as I do; but other times it’s harder to tell.

This obviously has to stop. I have no right to have such doubts or to make such assumptions. Who am I to question anyone’s disability? The thing is, I’m becoming more and more certain that my suspicions are valid: increasing numbers of people are identifying as disabled when they previously might not have. The definition of what constitutes a disability is becoming wider and wider, and the issue is thus becoming more and more politicised. More and more people are appearing online purporting to be disabled, making money by vlogging about issues that they have no actual experience of.

The online and offline worlds are, however, very different spaces, and what might be true on one might not be true on the other. My online suspicions, however certain I am that they are valid, do not give me the right to make judgments and assumptions about people I pass in the street. Even so, it frightens me to realise how acrimonious this issue is becoming for me. Judging people and begrudging them their mobility aids, albeit silently , because of a few twits on the internet, is not healthy.