One of the kids in the This Old House situation had duchenne muscular dystrophy and the whole family accepted that, so obtrusive was less of an issue. As much accessibility as his siblings had was what they were going for.

I will very occasionally nowadays deploy a walking stick if my back is twitchy, or if I'm afraid I'll do something hiking that could make it twitchy, like climb a steep hill I have no business climbing. It is some help with the activity (which honestly I'm more than half likely to do, even knowing better), and a big reminder to not be very stupid. I've had the stick since at least my thirties so it reads less "old" to me than "inherited a less than ideal back". :-)