That’s Funny You don’t Look Like You Have a DisABILITY
Editorial about how invisible disabilities are just as much disabilities as visible ones.
>Th’s funny, you don’t look
like you have a disABILITY.by Lynda Appell
Any one who can see that
a man, woman, boy, girl who is in a wheel chair has a visible disability.
Like wise seeing some one using a cane either as a walking aid or as help
for someone who is blind.
Conversely someone who has
an invisible disability, be it a learning disorder, a mental illness under
control with treatment, a person with chronic debilitating pain and many
other examples, too numerous to mention, are seen unless their disability
is known as not having anything disabling about them.
I am not implying that persons
with handicaps that are not readily seen are more disabled than those with
a handicap that is readily visible.
What I am saying that both
visible and invisible disabilities can both be a hardship and at times
even devastating to the individual.
Just because a disability
can not be seen doesn’t mean it’s any less disabling than one that can
be seen by most people.
This doesn’t doesn’t necessarily
mean more so. It means that a visability of disability should not be the sole criteria
of who is considered disabled.
To me there is one very
important exception to the above. The person with an invisible disability
has to deal with not only their disability but the public’s attitude toward
it. For it’s easy to realize some one who is physically challenged as being
impaired. It’s harder to realize that a person who may look normal may
also have an impairment.
