I'm more of a Spiderman and X-men girl myself, however being invisible is the topic of the day.
This isn't a post about "nobody seeing who you truly are" or "how you feel like a fly on the wall" or any topic along those lines.
This is about having an invisible disability.
For those of you who don't know....I have one of these.
You're probably thinking, "oh my gosh she has talked about having this one thing for how many weeks now and she's going to say she has another one?!"
Well no, but yeah I kind of am!
On the street you can walk right past me and think that I'm a normal twenty-something looking girl. You can talk to me and I sound normal, speak normal, and listen all like a normal human being would.
But as we've covered, I'm not normal (I secretly have mutant powers that allow me to walk through walls)
No, not really...but name that superhero and I'll give you a high five!
I have an invisible disability. Because you think I'm normal, doesn't mean that I am.
Invisible Disability is an umbrella term. Invisible disabilities are certain kinds of disabilities that are not immediately apparent to others (It's all in the name)
I've never really come across any type of negative stigma...for the most part...but I feel that's because I come from such a small town where everyone knew me already and saw exactly what I was going through. I didn't have to explain.
The rest of the world won't be so willing to believe me.
It's sad that this is something that people face every day and I've yet to even hit the tip of the iceberg with it.
I was asked in my death class last week (it's not an actual death class, it's called loss and bereavement, but death class sounds much more interesting) if I had a handicap pass. I used to have one and recently actually got one again.
Disclaimer note: The use of the pass is only for really sick days when I don't feel like walking half a mile from the parking lot to the building. Those who know me, know that I WILL NOT take advantage of this pass. If I'm capable of walking, I will walk.
My answer was no, because at the time I didn't have one. The teacher then went on to discuss how I will get certain looks and how do I feel about that and when it happens she wants to know if my thoughts and feelings have changed.
Well, today was day 1 with the pass and yes....I used it.
No looks were given.
I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.
For those of you curious as to what my answer was for her, I told her that the looks won't bother me. I have a reason for this pass and as long as the ones closest to me understand, then I'm ok with the dirty looks that I'll be getting. I don't judge others when they use their handicap pass, I don't have the time to sit there and wonder why they even have one...nor does it matter.
It's not just the handicap passes though, it's missed days from school and work, it's not being social, and it's people not believing others have problems when they really do.
Now, it's really hard deciphering which person has the invisible disability and which person just wants attention.
That one is up for you to decide.
I'll give you a hint though.
Which person is still going out of their way to do things even though they are in pain?
Which person still works harder no matter the circumstances?
Which person complains more than the other?
You answer those three questions and you'll figure it out.
The point of this post is for you to understand that this is a thing.
People who have visible disabilities are discriminated against and that's a difficult and wrong thing.
However, people who have invisible disabilities are discriminated against as well....but you don't hear about those stories, do you?
I was sent this chart a while back and I love it! It's so true and it's so funny, I think you will enjoy it :)
For my sake, don't go assuming people are only using the handicap spots because they are lazy. Maybe, just maybe, they might be invisible.
No comments:
Post a Comment