Invisible disability

Invisible Disabilities are disabilities that are not immediately apparent.

Some people with visual or auditory impairments who do not wear glasses or hearing aids may not be obviously impaired. (Some may wear contacts or have a cochlear implant instead.) A sitting disability is another category of invisible impairments. Sitting problems are usually caused by chronic back pain. Those with joint problems or chronic pain may not use mobility aids on good days, or at all. Other examples include Asperger syndrome, attention disorders (ADD/ADHD), brain injuries, chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, chemical sensitivities, fibromyalgia, epilepsy, and repetitive stress injuries.

Invisible disabilities can also include chronic illnesses such as renal failure, diabetes, and sleep disorders if those diseases significantly impair normal activities of daily living. If a medical condition does not impair normal activities, then it is not a disability.

Examples

Autoimmune disabilities

* Scleroderma
* Rheumatoid arthritis
* Crohn's disease
* Primary immunodeficiency
* Lupus
* Sjögren's syndrome
* Interstitial cystitis

Chronic pain disabilities

* Injuries
* Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy
* Arachnoiditis
* Temporomandibular joint disorder

Dietary disabilities

* Coeliac Disease
* Diabetes
* Fructose malabsorption
* Hypoglycemia
* Inflammatory bowel disease
* Metabolic syndrome
* Lactose Intolerance
* Lactulose Intolerance
* Hereditary Fructose Intolerance
* Irritable Bowel Syndrome
* Food allergies (the most common are peanut, milk, egg, tree nut, fish, shellfish, soy, and wheat)
* Ulcerative Colitis

Neurological disabilities

* Multiple Sclerosis
* Transverse Myelitis
* Lyme Disease
* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
* Hyperhidrosis
* Autism
* Asperger Syndrome
* Epilepsy
* Circadian rhythm sleep disorders
* Intracranial hypertension
* CFS/ME
* Fibromyalgia

Psychiatric disabilities

People with psychiatric disabilities make up a large segment of the invisibly-disabled population covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Examples include:

*Major depression
*Bipolar disorder
*Anxiety disorders
*Schizophrenia
*Personality disorders (when discussing mental impairments)

Disputed disabilities

* "Multiple chemical sensitivity," or environmental illness. It is a reaction to primarily scented substances, but not a true allergy. Most of its critics believe that most cases represent a type of anxiety disorder or somatoform disorder, although different sufferers may have different underlying causes. Its few supporters believe that it is caused by the body's inability to tolerate synthetic substances.

* "Electromagnetic hypersensitivity" (EHS), sometimes also called electrosensitivity or electrical sensitivity (ES). In this condition, the sufferer reports that physical and/or psychological symptoms are aggravated by electromagnetic fields or other electromagnetic phenomena at exposure levels tolerated by the general public. Critics have stated that it is most likely a psychosomatic illness.cite journal
last = Rubin
first = James
coauthors = J Das Munshi J, Simon Wessely
title = Electromagnetic hypersensitivity: a systematic review of provocation studies
journal = Psychosom Med 2005 Mar-Apr;67(2):224-32
volume = 67
issue = 2
pages = 224–32
date=March-April 2005
url = http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15784787
accessdate =2008-05-08 ] There are no large and well conducted studies supporting the claimed role of electromagnetic emissions in producing the reported symptoms. Lobby and support groups of those reporting electrical sensitivity frequently draw a distinction between the merely "EMF anxious" and the truly "EMF sensitive", and generally believe that electrical sensitivity is rare.cite web |url=http://www.ctaz.com/~bhima/emf.htm |title=Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Protection for the Electrically Sensitive (ES) |format= |work= |accessdate=2008-05-08]

Prevalence statistics

About 10% of Americans have a medical condition which could be considered an invisible disability.

Nearly one in two Americans (133 million) has a chronic medical condition of one kind or another. [Chronic Care in America: A 21st Century Challenge, a study of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation & Partnership for Solutions: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (September 2004 Update). "Chronic Conditions: Making the Case for Ongoing Care"] However, most of these people are not actually disabled, as their medical conditions do not impair normal activities. 96% of people with chronic medical conditions live with an illness that is invisible. These people do not use a cane or any assistive device and may look and act perfectly healthy. [2002 US Census Bureau]

25% of people in the U.S. with a chronic condition have some type of activity limitation; the remaining 75% are not disabled by their chronic conditions. [http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/Chronic%20Conditions%20Chartbook%209-2004.ppt]

Legal protection

Whereas the public may be too willing to "help" or interfere with people with a visible disability, those with invisible disabilities must seek help or go without assistance. However, those with invisible disabilities are protected by national and local disability laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Persons with some kinds of invisible disabilities, such as chronic pain or some of the sleep disorders, may be accused of faking or imagining their disabilities. People can also misunderstand and sometimes mistake illness or impairment as something else. For instance, one might feel animosity towards a person who takes a lift/elevator up just one floor, by assuming they are lazy, without realizing that the person has an nonobvious disability which makes it difficult for them to climb stairs, such as a knee problem or lack of depth perception.

ee also

*Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
*Disability
*Disability etiquette

References

Footnotes

General references

* Switzer, Jacqueline Vaughn. "Disabled Rights: American Disability Policy and the Fight for Equality." Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2003.

Further reading

*Carol Sveilich. "Just Fine: Unmasking Concealed Chronic Illness and Pain." ISBN 0970015046

External links

* [http://www.ButYouLOOKGood.com "But You LOOK Good!" (Booklet to help people understand IDs)]
* http://www.direct.gov.uk/disability - UK govt information
* [http://www.mychronicillness.com/comfortzone/item2.htm Why Can't I Make People Understand? Discovering the validation those with chronic illness seek and why (Book, by Lisa Copen)]
* [http://www.MyIDA.org The Invisible Disabilities Advocate]
* [http://www.CleanerIndoorAir.org The Cleaner Indoor Air Campaign (MCS)]