Invisible Disabilities

An ‘invisible disability’ is defined as a disability that is not quickly apparent; there are no outward or obvious signs of a disability. Of course, this does not mean that the disability is not there, it just changes others’ perception and treatment of the people with the disability. With disabilities that are clearly visibly, people have a tendency to default to over-bearing pity in an attempt to be helpful, the opposite is true for people with invisible disabilities as there can be a refusal to believe that the disability exists.

The drastic change in treatment is primarily due to the preconceived notions that are held about people with disabilities. When evidence of a disability is not instantly evident, people refuse to believe a person has a disability or appear incredibly confused about it. This is mostly because (visible) disabilities are seen as a border, something which separates ‘ordinary’ people from people with disabilities. It makes disabled people ‘the Other’ and visible signs of a disability means they can be identified as ‘the Other’ and ostracised thusly. When people do not ‘seem’ disabled then people cannot easily find that border which separates ‘normal’ people from those with disabilities. Obviously, this is all extremely ablest behaviour but it is something which is conditioned into society and people are loath to abandon these methods of categorisation. To understand the stigma against invisible disabilities, understanding the casual ableism behind people’s thought processes is essential.

 

With regards to the difficulties faced by people with invisible disabilities, it is not easily measurable or quantifiable; it is in how they are treated every day and the disbelief they face regarding their illness. I do not personally have MS but this document explains clearly some of the struggles faced by people with invisible illnesses. Additionally, less understanding is shown because people cannot see the signs of something being wrong and refuse to acknowledge the invisible symptoms. People will assume that, because you seem healthy, there is nothing wrong with you – unintentionally others will invalidate how you are feeling because they assume everything is fine. This makes it much harder to ask for help as you feel ashamed of needing help when you ‘appear’ normal; there is also fear of being rebuked when you ask for help by people who deny there is anything wrong with you. It can be hard to even confide in friends and family about how you are feeling as people ‘forget’ there is an issue if it is not staring them in the face, leading the person to feel trapped and isolated. The burden of living with an invisible disability can take an incredible toll on a person as they can feel invalidated and as if they do not deserve help. Young people who suffer from invisible disabilities can face harassment from all sides as their issues are just brushed aside as laziness or attention-seeking which means they struggle to get the help that they deserve. This is not a comprehensive catalogue of the issues that people with invisible disabilities face and I cannot speak for everyone with invisible disabilities – I have drawn from my own experiences in discussing this topic.

What needs to be addressed is that disabilities do not need to be seen to be believed, people with disabilities do not need to justify themselves and their illnesses to anyone. Even if it is not immediately obvious that a person has a disability, they should be respected and not treated with disbelief or suspicion. Many illnesses cannot actually be seen, mental illnesses for example are not ‘visible’ but they do not deserve scorn. What truly needs to change is the view towards the disabled - the patronising treatment of people with visible disabilities and invalidation of people with invisible disabilities. The idea that people with invisible disabilities need to justify themselves and look 'unwell' enough before they are considered to have a disability is prejudice at its finest; ableism runs rampant in our beliefs, thinking and treatment of others. A little kindness and compassion would not go amiss.