Looks Can Be Deceiving: Understanding Invisible Disabilities

The word disabled usually evokes images of wheelchairs, canes, ramps, or other visible indicators of an impairment: sign language, hearing aids etc. But there are many disabilities that are considered hidden or invisible. Here are two examples.

What you see: Melanie

Melanie is a 29-year-old mom, dressed in flop flops and a pretty summer dress with two toddlers in car seats. With her permit displayed, she parked her car in the handicapped parking spot, grabbed the kids, and quickly walked with ease into the grocery store. Close behind her was a man who appeared to be very agitated. He confronted her in front of the store and angrily demanded to know why she had the handicapped parking permit and why she was using a handicapped parking when she obviously wasn’t disabled. He scanned her body up and down and then called Melanie a scam artist and told her she should be ashamed of herself. Other people lined up at the cash looked at her with disgust and shook their heads in disbelief. Melanie was humiliated but carried on with her errands.

What you don’t see: Melanie

Melanie is a 29-year-old mom who suffers from COPD as a result of pneumonia as a young child. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, is an umbrella term for a range of progressive lung diseases and is the fourth leading cause of death in Canada. Melanie is able to walk short distances but a basic grocery shopping trip can leave her out of breath, dizzy, disoriented, and unable to walk more than a few meters. By just looking at her, nobody would ever guess that Melanie has a disability. In fact, it took a serious incident involving her passing out in the middle of a crosswalk for Melanie to even admit that she had a disability because she was afraid of being judged and labeled. Melanie has had her parking pass for over a year and has been harassed over a dozen times by strangers who question her disability or ask her to prove that she is entitled to accessible parking.

What you see: Larry

Larry is a 45-year-old single man. He works in a production line at a parts factory. For eight hours a day he is stationed on the line flipping components as they are fed into the paint sprayer booth. Larry looks strong and healthy, although a little overweight. At the end of the day, he is usually winded and red faced and often pulls up a tall stool to sit for the last hour of his shift. The other workers on the line aren’t allowed to sit when working and the shift supervisor, Linda seems to turn a blind eye to Larry’s behaviour. The other workers are angry that Larry is apparently allowed to be so lazy and they question among themselves why he is subject to special treatment. Behind his back they call him Larry the Lump and make fun of him after hours.

What you don’t see: Larry

Four years ago, Larry was involved in a horrifying car crash that almost claimed his life. He lost his wife and two children in the accident, and he suffered a traumatic back injury. The PTSD that resulted from the loss of his family left him alienated from family, prone to wild mood swings, paranoid and hyper alert. To add to the misery of his PTSD, the back injury makes it difficult for Larry to stand or sit for extended lengths of time and left him with lingering pain that is just barely managed with pain medication. Larry has worked at the plant for 15 years and the management felt that they would honour his commitment to the company and accommodate Larry’s special needs by providing him with a stool to sit whenever he needed it. Nobody who works around him knows what Larry deals with on a daily basis.

You Don’t Always Know Who Is Living With A Disability

The list of recognized disabilities includes many invisible conditions that seriously impair a person’s ability to live life to the fullest. Invisible disabilities include chronic pain, chronic fatigue, muscular skeletal conditions, learning disabilities, and a full spectrum of mental illness including psychiatric conditions. There are millions of Canadians who deal with invisible challenges every day.