#Just cause you know someone's trans doesn't make you able to ask invasive questions

[serenhob]

I think people need to understand that 'fakers' are a much smaller issue to disabled people than 'fake claimers'

First of all a lot of people who 'fake' mental illness/neurodivergance are not 'faking it', they may not be neurodivergent/have a specific mental illness but most of the time they think they have do.

Faking normally implies a degree of awareness or malice but a lot are just relating to things that they are not fully informed of and coming to the conclusion that they are neurodivergen/disabled. Who/what does this effect?

Not a lot. There may be some misinformation (which obviously isn't good) but nothing overtly harmful to disabled people. To access any degree of accommodation you need a diagnosis so people aren't taking anything away because they will be denied.

And yes there are those select few people who do have awareness and malice in what they are doing, often to illicit sympathy and get money. It is these types of people who fake a physical disability in addition to mental and neurodivergence. But these are very rare.

Fake claimers however, are far more common and pervasive.

They are everywhere, they do it to actually disabled people. It is very disturbing to see in real life.

I have genuinely had strangers come up to me and say that I don't actually need my cane and try and take it off me. My own family members have taken my cane away from me and left me until they brought it back. I have had people tell me that when they push me and I fall that I made myself fall over. I have had people tell me that because I was able to hold onto my cane as they tried to take it away from me that I am lying about needing pencil grips. This is actively harmful.

And it not only happens with the people around you but with those there to help disabled people.

Due to personal bias there are professionals who say that you dont look disabled/autistic/neurodivergent/etc just because you do not present in a certain way (particularly with neurodivergent people who are denied for not being a 6 year old boy because that's how they think its 'supposed' to look).

Women and people of colour have been denied and misdiagnosed with conditions like hysteria, Bpd and anxiety disorders or, if it is physical, stress, hormones, periods, etc in place of the disability they actually have all because their conditions research was focused on white men/boys.

Ambulatory wheelchair users are told they don't need a wheelchair because they are not paralysed. Ignoring the fact that people use the mobility aid that suits them instead of being denied because they don't 'suit' the mobility aid.

If disability does not look how people initially imagined suddenly its not a disability at all.

It is a systemic and social issue that persists and is made worse by people getting upset over some random girl on tiktok saying she has Adhd.

If you do not like people being ill informed then advocate for education.

Fake claiming is a big part of abelism that we ignore and that needs to change.