One of Erving Goffman’s core examples of covering was that FDR would hide his wheelchair behind a desk before his Cabinet entered. Roosevelt was not passing, as everyone knew he was disabled. Rather, he was covering, making sure that his disability faded into the background relative to his more conventionally Presidential qualities.

Individuals with motor-function limitations widely report covering strategies. Jenny Morris notes how some people in wheelchairs use able-bodied people as “fronts,” relating how she takes her daughter shopping with her for this purpose. Others describe pressure to laugh along with jokes about how much room they take up or whether they have a license to drive a dangerous vehicle. Irving Zola writes about refusing a wheelchair for years to appear normal, and the shock at how much relief he got when he finally used one.

Covering is also rife among individuals disabled in other ways, such as those with visual impairments. In her memoir, Sight Unseen, Georgina Kleege describes dressing meticulously, forgoing a cane, and memorizing passages she was expected to read aloud. Steven Kuusisto writes about hiding his telescopic glasses, pretending he was clumsy, and walking quickly. The most famous instance of a blind person who covered while not passing is Helen Keller, who insisted as a youth on being photographed from angles that hid her protruding eye. She later had her eyes replaced with glass, leading unsuspecting journalists to comment on the beauty of her eyes.

Covering in this context often requires individuals to forgo the paraphernalia they need to function. As such, it provides a particularly stark instance of how counterproductive conformity can be. These individuals often pay for the appearance of normalcy not just with psychic repression but also with physical pain.

A significant instance in which disabled individuals pressured to cover lost their case is Sutton v. American Airlines (1999). In this case, the Court deemed that individuals would not fall under the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act if they could correct their disabilities.