Hidden Challenges of Hidden Disability.
21st March 2019
Many people are living everyday with invisible disabilities – these are conditions which don’t present physical signs but nevertheless can be painful, isolating and exhausting. Billions of people worldwide live with some kind of disability and according to the World Health Organisation, 74% of those with disabilities don’t use a wheelchair or anything else that would visually highlight their impairment(s).
If we see someone using a wheelchair, a service dog, or sign language, it can be easier to understand their difficulties and to support them. Sympathy and understanding towards thosewith invisible disabilities can sometimes be in short supply. Often individuals with a brain injury will present with no outward physical signs of injury and therefore may struggle to convince others that they have a disability. Having a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can leave an individual with life-long challenges in regards to their cognitive function including: memory; fatigue; motivation; concentration; and mental health issues.
Family members and close friends usually have the most trouble understanding the invisible nature of a TBI. They will usually have daily contact with the individual affected by TBI, and often they are confronted with someone they no longer recognise, a ‘new’ personality- possibly more depressed, less confident, angry and less able to memorise information. After sustaining a TBI it is a very long and difficult process to begin re-learning lost skills, or developing new coping strategies through rehabilitation (as a substitute for skills that can’t be re-learned). A common experience for many after sustaining a Brain Injury is a constant feeling of exhaustion in their efforts to rebuild aspects of their ‘previous’ life, and can be discouraged by what they may feel is ‘a lack of compassion’ from their close friends and family members.
On the other hand, the individual with a Brain Injury may be lacking self-awareness, and therefore not have the ability to fully understand how difficult it can be to be in the ‘caring role’. But nevertheless, we shouldn’t dismiss or underestimate a disability because of the simple fact that we can’t see it.
What we need to realise about TBI (and any other invisible disability) is that just because you can’t physically see a disability, this does not mean it does not exist. You cannot see a brain injury like you can a broken bone in a cast. You also can’t see depression, anxiety or migraines; you just see how people react and cope. One sentiment that every human can identify with is the need to be understood. This is the same for those who have an “invisible” disability such as a TBI, but on a much larger scale. They want their family to understand that when they lose control and have anger outbursts, they’re not upset with them. They want their friends to understand they when they decline going out, it is not that they don’t want to spend time with them. They want their employers to know that when they might call in sick to work, they are not just shirking their work related responsibilities but in actual fact, symptoms of a TBI can make it seem impossible to move, to get up and do what is expected.
So the next time you see someone pull into a disabled spot in the car park, get out of their car and look ‘fine’, just remember they could be facing daily challenges we couldn’t even begin to understand, and often need just as much support as an individual in a wheelchair or with visual impairment needs.