I never knew what it meant to be disabled until the day I became disabled. How insensitive some humans can be against the disabled community. One a friend of mine had a handicap license. He parked and got out the car; a lady says to him, Well, you look perfectly normal to me!? He turned and looked at her into her eyes and said, very seriously, maybe that's not part of the problem, you can't see lurking under my shell. " What he said to her was priceless!
I am too experiencing invisible disability and I would like to say to all the bullies, "Just because You can't see my disability doesn't mean it doesn't exist!" Until you walk in my shoes and have felt the pain, keep your cruel comments and opinions to yourself. Ignorant people can be so cruel! Not only society but public and social entities. I decided to post this in hopes to stop people from bullying, mocking and laughing at people with impairments beyond their control. Hard to explain to someone who is ignorant and have no clue. It's a daily struggle being in pain or feeling sick on the inside while you look fine on the outside. Let me educate you on examples of “Invisible Disability” (IBS, Crohn's, PTSD, Anxiety, Arthritis, Cancer, Heart Disease, "C.O.P. D", Bipolar, Depression, Diabetes, Lupus, Fibromyalgia, MS, AS, ME, Epilepsy, Hereditary angioedema, Migraines, Chiari Malformation, Hashimotos, AUTISM, Borderline personality disorder, M.D., D.D.D., CFS, Histiocytosis, O.D.D, A.D.H.D, RSD, RA (rheumatoid arthritis) PBC,RLS etc.) Never judge.
What is Invisible Disability?
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) an individual with a disability is a person who: Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; has a record of such an impairment; or is regarded as having such an impairment (Disability Discrimination). Furthermore, “A person is considered to have a disability if he or she has difficulty performing certain functions (seeing, hearing, talking, walking, climbing stairs and lifting and carrying), or has difficulty performing activities of daily living, or has difficulty with certain social roles (doing school work for children, working at a job and around the house for adults)” (Disabilities Affect One-Fifth of All Americans).
Often people think the term, disability, only refers to people using a wheelchair or walker. On the contrary, the 1994-1995 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) found that 26 million Americans (almost 1 in 10) were considered to have a severe disability, while only 1.8 million used a wheelchair and 5.2 million used a cane, crutches or walker (Americans with Disabilities 94-95). In other words, 74% of Americans who live with a severe disability do not use such devices. Therefore, a disability cannot be determined solely on whether or not a person uses assistive equipment.
The term invisible disabilities refer to symptoms such as debilitating pain, fatigue, dizziness, cognitive dysfunctions, brain injuries, learning differences and mental health disorders, as well as hearing and vision impairments. These are not always obvious to the onlooker, but can sometimes or always limit daily activities, range from mild challenges to severe limitations and vary from person to person.
Also, someone who has a visible impairment or uses an assistive device such as a wheelchair, walker or cane can also have invisible disabilities. For example, whether or not a person utilizes an assistive device, if they are debilitated by such symptoms as described above, they live with invisible disabilities. Unfortunately, people often judge others by what they see and often conclude a person can or cannot do something by the way they look. This can be equally frustrating for those who may appear unable, but are perfectly capable, as well as those who appear able, but are not.
International Disability expert, Joni Eareckson Tada, explained it well when she told someone living with debilitating fatigue, “People have such high expectations of folks like you [with invisible disabilities], like, ‘come on, get your act together.’ but they have such low expectations of folks like me in wheelchairs, as though it’s expected that we can’t do much” (Joni).
The bottom line is that everyone with a disability is different, with varying challenges and needs, as well as abilities and attributes. Thus, we all should learn to listen with our ears, instead of judging with our eyes.
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