why the disabled community are so frustrated about what’s happening with the sunflower lanyard - a thread 1/

the sunflower lanyard was originally designed for people with hidden disabilities who need support in public spaces, such as at airports, supermarkets etc. 2/

a lot of us were really happy to hear about the start of the sunflower lanyard scheme and although wearing a lanyard made some people feel vulnerable a lot of us took it on so we can get the support we require in the public spaces 3/

more and more places started recognising the lanyard and this was great news, finally a lot of us could be more comfortable in going out and feel reassured that we could get the help we may require when in public 4/

however when masks were introduced and made mandatory by the government, people starting using the lanyards as purely a sign of being mask exempt and now when out most staff in supermarkets etc only see it as a sign of mask exemption and not that the individual may need 5/

assistance. not everyone who is mask exempt has a hidden disability and not everyone who has a hidden disability is mask exempt, this is where the confusion lies. i’ve also seen people receive comments when in public to why are they wearing a mask if they have a lanyard. 6/

you also have a small handful of people who are abusing the lanyard scheme completely just because they do not want to wear a mask. this is really upsetting to see and many people in the disabled community have been speaking out about it. 7/

something that was supposed to help us has been completely ruined and i have to say that the company who started the scheme themselves aren’t helping with the issue. they aren’t making it clear enough to why the sunflower lanyard was created in the first place. 8/8