Is My Disability Invisible?

Is my disability invisible or did you make me invisible with your ableism?

Is my disability invisible or did you make it unsafe for immunocompromised/suppressed people to exist in public?

Is my disability invisible or was the venue not accessible for me to bring my mobility aid?

Is my disability invisible or was there no virtual attendancce option?

Is my disability invisible or did you get tired of hearing my pain and excuses?

Is my disability invisible or did you teach us that women should wear makeup and use filters to hide “looking tired”?

Normalize letting people be visibly disabled in public.

The design of this post was inspired by the Sunflower Lanyard visit www.hdsunflower.com to learn more.

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Invisible Disabilities absolutely exist. But so often what we call an Invisible Disability is only invisible because we

1.) Choose to exclude people with chronic pain chronic fatigue and immunosuppression from society

2.) Choose to ignore signs of chronic illness and mental distress like pain, discomfort and exhaustion

3.) Stigmatize presenting as disabled forcing people (especially feminine presenting people) to cover their symptoms and discomfort with makeup, filters, and masking

Internalized Ableism is rampant within the disabled and chronically ill community. We constantly repeat how "you don't see us at our worst" and "we are so skilled at hiding our pain." We refuse to use mobility aids until absolutely necessary, as with asking for (legally mandated) accommodations.

Yet we so rarely stop to question why it is that we think it is such a sin to show our discomfort and disability. Why we go to such great lengths to appear able-bodied, even when this process of masking our disabilities further disables us.

Why is it that it is so frowned up to carry a cane so that people can instantly recognize your struggle to walk? Why is it that our symbols of invisible disability like the sunflower lanyards must be as unintrusive as possible. To the extent that most people outside the disabled community do not even recognize them.

If a symbol does become well recognized like the blue parking badge it becomes as policed as a mobility aid. With the community themselves tearing down people for "taking advantage" of a program literally designed to help our community.

All the talk of "not letting your disability/illness stop you" the inspiration porn and the ways we MAKE our disabilities invisible because of society's expectations and ableism need to stop.

There is nothing wrong with being disabled. It is not something we have to hide. So why do we keep doing it?