As a therapist with multiple sclerosis, and a Board member of the Invisible Disabilities Association, I can assure you that those with physical illnesses, esp hidden ones like cancer, ms, lupus, Crohn’s diseaes, fibromyalgia, anxiety, depression, etc., are not always treated with dignity. There are still people who will not hug someone with cancer for fear of “catching it”. An ms client was escorted from a grocery store after she fell into a display; the assumption was she was drunk, not that she fell because of balance problems. Read about my own experiences with people’s assumptions, misperceptions, and misunderstandings on my blog, ilikebeingsickanddisabled.com. and in my article for the government’s site, disability.gov, http://usodep.blogs.govdelivery.com/2012/07/25/looks-can-be-deceiving/. Mental health issues are as much a part of invisible disability as physical health issues are. Parsing them dilutes the effectiveness of advocacy. Without ignoring the special needs of any group under the umbrella of “disabiltiy”, it might, at some point, be worthwhile to give up the “me” in exchange for the “us”.
- Don’t park there! You’re not handicapped!
- How Come It’s “We’re Pregnant” But It’s Not “We’re Disabled”?
Categories: ALS, Cancer, Chronic illness, COPD, Disability/stigma, disabled, Effect of invisible (hidden) disability on relationship, Fibromyalgia, Health and wellness, Hearing loss, invisable, Invisable illnesses, invisible chronic illness, invisible disability, Loss of function, Macular degeneration, Migraines, Ms, Panic attacks, Parkinson's Disease, People with invisable illness, Personal experience with heart diesease, Personal Experiences, Rheumatoid Arthritis, society, Stigma, Stroke, Thyroid
Tags: advocacy, ALS, cancer, chronic illness, dignity, disability, illness, MS, respect, stroke, thyroid
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ilikebeingsickanddisabled 
Hiya. My apologies however can stand the
color of the web site, It’s just awful please put it back I enjoy your posts.
Yikes! What part of the website is problematic? Thought it was pretty simple and don’t recall changing it…
I just came across your blog post, very insightful. I suffer from “hidden” disabilities (hearing loss in one ear, migraines, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic neck problems, chronic ankle problems, mild depression, etc.) When you don’t look sick it’s a challenge to explain yourself without people thinking you have mental issues, by saying oh you look fine…
Wow, I totally get it. Weighty enough to cope with all those health things that are “invisible”. People disregard what they can’t see, or even suspect you of malingering. Weight is so much greater when that happens. Find at least one other person who “gets it” so you can commiserate. Don’t you buy into the invisibility!