Invisible Disabilities
Well, this was kind of a hard Affirming Minute to put together. First of all, I needed to research it to find out “What is an Invisible Disability? ”
So, what is an Invisible Disability?
It could be any type of condition that affects a person’s ability to function physically, mentally, or neurologically in ways that are invisible for us to see.
Some Invisible Disabilities are: diabetes, epilepsy, chronic pain, crohn’s disease, depression, lupus, schizophrenia, lyme disease, multiple sclerosis.
There are thousands of illnesses, disorders, diseases, dysfunctions, congenital disabilities, impairments, injuries; These are all conditions that can effect a person’s ability to move, to think, to feel.
How common are Invisible Disabilities?
Over one billion people around the world have a disability according to the World Health Organisation. In Canada, over three million adults have a limiting disability, based on statistics from 2012.
How do people act and react to an Invisible Disability?
Some people might say:
– But you don’t look sick.
– You’re just imagining it.
– Why are you parked in the handicap zone when you can walk?
– That person spends more time in the bathroom.
– Can’t you just deal with it.
People with an Invisible Disability have answered:
– Some days I’m in my wheelchair, other days I can prance through fields in long skirts.
– I live with an emergency pendant alarm around my neck for when a seizure strikes.
– Just because you can’t see my bones falling apart, and my two metal hips, doesn’t mean the pain is not real.
– Under my clothes are tubes used to attach daily to a machine to stay alive.
– I’m slowly losing my ability to move.
Every one’s body is different. A person has special needs that I may not see. Then I pass judgment perhaps. And this too can cause a person to have more trauma dealing with the social stigma attached to me not accepting their invisible disability.
In the month of May we share this Affirming Minute with Invisible Disabilities, and also note that May 26 – June 1 is Disability Awareness Week in New Brunswick and National Accessibility Week in Canada.
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References
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www.invisibledisability.ca
www.rickhansen.com (https://www.rickhansen.com/news-stories/blog/lets-talk-about-invisible-disabilities)
www.disabled-world.com (www.disabled-world.com/disability/types/invisible/)
www.invisibledisabilities.org (www.invisibledisabilities.org/what-is-an-invisible-disability/)
https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/pcsdp/promos/daw2019.html
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/campaigns/national-accessability-week.html
#InvisiblyDisabledLooksLike