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Living with an invisible disability.
By Lynda Appell of Artists for Recovery
Invisible disabilities are just as much disabilities as ones that are visible. I hope it doesn't surprize you that persons with non physical disabilities can be as disabled as those that are easily seen. Its clear that persons who are crippled or otherwise physically maimed present with a disablity. However whether a handicap is visable or not, doesn't make it any less an impairment to the individual. By invisible disabilities I am referring to sensory, developmental and psychiatric disabilities. These categories are not meant to exhaustive. It is only my way of expressing a disability that is not easily viewed. One may say deafness is a physical disability since they involve a physical part of the body. In this ears for hearing loss. Its the manifestations of these conditions that are noticed by others. Most people with deafness have normal looking ears. It only when one notices a hearing aid than the conclusion of being deaf comes by. This example of hearing problems relates to my father's side of my family. There is a genetic disorder that runs in his side. Its known as Waardenburg syndrome. There are six different types. Type1, Type2, Type2A, Type2B, Type3. Type2A and Type2B can be differentiated by genetic testing. My father and I were diagnosed with WS2. WS2 is one of the leading causes of congenital deafness. With eighty percent of people with WS2 born with various degrees of hearing loss, WS is one of the leading causes of being born deaf. Specifically there are two main types of being deaf. There is conductive. There is senseoneural. The former is difficulty or unable to hear sounds. Senseoneural is not being capable of correctly hearing sounds or words. This is where we get the old joke. The heaing man says to the senseoneural deaf man "What time is it. The senseoneural deaf man replies with "What kind is it. I don't know." Okay not the best joke. Hopefully it illustrates the main pitfall of SN Hearing loss, the mishearing of what somebody says. There's been numerous experiences with people telling me I'm ignoring them or lost in my thoughts. The issue is if you're not facing me there's difficulity for me in making out your words. I am not being stubborn. However since I don't look like I'm disabled people don't realize my issue. I can't say I look perfectly normal since part of my syndrome is different colored eyes or as my late hubby said "Unmatching irises." The medical term is heterochromatica iridis. But that's another subject.
One other main invisible disability is mental illness. This is most unfair and unfortunate. Mental illnesses are as much disabilities, illnesses as physical ones. What really galls me is how there are those who think depression is merely feeling sorry for oneself. Or even worse they're being lazy. It seems to me, generally speaking society pretty much either jeers or fears the mentally ill and usually both. Tipper Gore, Ted Turner, Patty Duke, other letting the public know they suffer from mental illnesses. With more celebrities coming out with their psychiatric diagnosises, there may be a lessening of stigma. I'm uncertain but the developmentally disabled, especially the mentally retarded may suffer from stigma even worse then those with a psychiatric disease. These with intellectual disabilities are for the most part viewed as stupid and other related terms. They are seen as "Retards" In no way is retard is anything but a cruel insult. I remember going to a religious service for persons with disabilities. There was a woman who wrote about her retarded sister who loved to ride buses. It was a touching, heartfelt presentation. Virtually everybody in the rather crowded building gave the writer a standing ovation when her talk ended. There was a TV film based on the book. It was titled "Riding on the Bus with my Sister." It starred Rosie O'Donnel as the developmentally disabled sibling. I never saw the movie so I can't critique it. The reviews instead of criticing the picture, made fun of the character portrayed by O'Donnell. Her character's name was Beth Simon. She was the sister of Rachel Simon. Rachel Simon wrote the book and screenplay. It was to me, as if to say, she's retarded so the only thing she deserves is to be ridiculed. They completely dismissed her humanity. Even if the reviews reflected O'Donnell's controversial character, in my humble opinion, there is absolutely no excuse to make fun of anybody with a disability. Developmental disabilities are definitely included. In conclusion no matter how they manifest themselves, all disabilities, whether visible or invisible are disabilities. One is not any less than the other. |
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The copyright for this content entitled "Living with an invisible disability." has been specified by the contributor as:
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This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
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This intel was contributed by mugwort
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May, 2012
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