QDockWidget seperator with fixed size dockwidget

I created a class that inherits from QDockWidget that allows the ability to collapse the widget. When collapsed the widget has a fixed height of 0. I have more than one of these docked to the left side of my application so that there is a separator between the QDockWidgets that allows resizing. When I collapse one of my widgets, it cannot be resized, however the separator still has an enabled QSplitterHandle. If instead of the height, I make the width fixed size, the separator between the QDockWidget area and the central widget loses its handle. I'd like similar behavior for the separator between dock widgets, but it doesn't seem like there is any way for me to access the widget for the separator.

why do you collapse the widgets? In my application, I use "hide" which works perfectly... and you can use the default context menu for showing/hiding DockWidgets.