Disability & knitting

"When I walked with a gray, hospital issued walking stick, people often asked what was 'wrong' with me. Equipment is an instant symbol of impairment. It can be useful for people to see that you have difficulty walking, but on the other hand, sometimes that is all people see! When I covered my stick in green felt, people instead asked where the great stick had come from, and we talked about craft and creativity. Covering my walking stick had an empowering effect, casting me in the role of innovator, inventor, and maker.
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The Knitted Walking Stick Cosy returns power to individuals who wish to integrate their equipment into their overall style and gives them access to colors, designs, textures, and materials that might never be commercially available.
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So many conversations about living with a disability or knitting a garment revolve around problem solving and ingenuity, and I wanted to bring those worlds togetherto shift questions about living with a disability away from medicine and hospitals and into knitting circles everywhere."

Felicity (Felix) Ford, in Greer, Betsy (2008), Knitting for Good! A Guide to Creating Personal, Social and Political Change, Stitch by Stitch, Trumpeter, Boston and London, p.44, 45