To suggest the next mn campaign targets views on invisible disabilities

[BeyondIsBloodOfTheDragon]

That. I don't really have much more to say in my OP

Yet another thread here (and I consider 'mn the collective' quite clued up in general about this) moaning about people having time off work with a long term health issue. It's far from the first and I'd guess far from the last.

Anyone have any thoughts?

As an additional point, often people with autoimmune diseases will look 'well' due to medication. Steroids do give you a healthy glow often, even when you are feeling carp! My hairdresser mentioned to me last summer I had a 'good tan' - this is bad news for me as could mean I am getting jaundiced and my liver is failing. Obviously not a desirable situation. On reflection, I spent so much of the summer being ill on various meds that didn't suit me that all I was fit for was lying in the garden. Still not exactly 'normal living'.

I've had that 'thing' from older patients who think cos you are young you should be helping the old ladies. That was when I was young! In hospital in my late 30s, I and the other 'youngster' got hard time for that. Well, that's what staff are for, and we were in hospital for a reason. Some people are just weird and ignorant.

I don't actually get moaned at that much when I'm out and about.
I get " what have you done". As if a mum on crutches couldnt have anything long term, it must be an injury

Beyond I hate the "what have you done?" questions and I have been resisting moving to a stick as I'm worried about the connotations (especially being 25) but my friend who uses a stick says she gets less of those questions. People often associate crutches with a temporary problem/injury.

See now, I associate (wrongly, I know) a stick with being old. And having people not understand the difference between inflammatory and oesteoarthritis already, and think i have an "old persons" disease, i shy away from a stick.
Purely in my head, but already having another "old woman" problem (prolapse), it's something I'm overly sensitive of.

Beyond I also have inflammatory arthritis; "I understand, I have a bit of that in my knee. Have you tried glucosamine?" Aaaaarghhhh; my joints have eroded away, my eyes are permanently scarred and I take low dose chemotherapy drugs, of course you understand!
I hate my stick (even though it's pink and funky), so I'm still using one crutch. Physio is encouraging me to use a stick but I feel like I look like an older person too.

Bowel disorders. People with Crohn's, ulcerative colitis and all forms of IBD need understanding.

yanbu

Someone asked me why I needed a stick. I told them it was to beat DS with if he got out of line.

DS spoilt it though by laughing.

And do you also get 'Oh, you'll feel better when the weather improves'? I really want to say 'So why did my medical team spend so long at med school if a spot of good weather will cure me?'
(I have joint problems too BTW)

Tinkly, I think often a silly answer is better than the truth. People just don't know how to respond to that so they tend to shut up!

Yep, that one too. And my personal favourite at the moment is the aloe juice/random supplements that the world and its mum are trying to sell me.

No. I would not support this campaign for adults.

I think thisismychild is great because it focuses on disability, difference and associated complications.

But with adults the danger is that the focus strays off into illness and mental illness.

I rely on my mental illnesses being as invisible as possible. I'm underweight so they're not entirely invisible but I work very hard at being just passable enough for it to be possible that I am normal. The more awareness there is the more likely people are to realise how far from normal I am and that would be really damaging to me (teacher and single mum so not supposed to be able to cope with the illnesses/issues that I have).

Understanding and support from other people is the last thing I want. I want to blend in and have people assume that I am ok. I can't believe this is unusual and imagine that most people with MH issues (and some physical issues) would feel the same.

If the campaign focused on disability then fine. But not illness.

I see what you mean. I had assumed that those posting about illnesses considered themselves disabled by the illness, so were focusing on the disability side, iyswim?

As i said upthread, i support the 'time to change' campaign, there shouldnt be any stigma around poor mental health. But i also think that focussing on normalising any problem can make it worse for those who suffer severely. There are people who are less affected by whatever problem, and people who are worse.

To use a non mh example, i have hms. Some people with hms are "fine" and just bendy and a bit sore. Others are confined to wheelchairs and dislocate joints often, and have internal problems too.

Fwiw, my depression and anxiety is mediumish to severe at times, but I wouldnt consider them alone (in my case) to be disabling.

Morning bump :)

Yep, i'm bumping it again :)

I would support this. I have two "invisible" disabilities.

I would like more widespread realisation that disabilities are just another part of the 'normal' condition. There isn't a big line separating the 'able' and the 'disabled', there's just a world population of people with varying physical and mental abilities. And we need to set up our buildings, processes, infrastructure, workplaces, facilities etc. to accommodate them all, so that no-one is excluded from a meaningful life.

More understanding about the wide range of "invisible" disabilities, what they are, and how they affect people should help this.

I do feel guilty about moaning - my MH comes and goes, mostly I can 'pass' as fine. People with visible disabilities don't get that luxury.

But I can't deny sometimes wishing I had some kind of outward sign.

I have a relatively mild hip problem that sometimes gives me a limp and I seen to get more sympathy for that, even though it hardly affects my life. People assume that is the reason for my bus pass etc.

And YY with the normalising. Overall it is massively good, but I am sick and tired of telling people I have bipolar and them saying 'oh, I think I have that, sometimes I feel really sad but other times I'm happy!'

If there is a concern that people with mental illness don't want to raise awareness, then maybe narrow the field to those invisible physical disabilities?

I personally find it a huge barrier that people think if they can't see the physical disability I have, they tend to think I'm exaggerating or 'it's all in my head'. Especially medics who don't know enough about specialist illnesses.

I'm off to a OH interview for my work which am terrified about as it will be done by a doctor - and if he is ignorant and refuses to learn about a rare and misunderstood illness, it could dramatically effect my career. I'm basically worried that he will be prejudiced about my invisible illness, and tap into my works ignorance and prejudice.

And that's exactly what a campaign should be about for everyone who faces this from people who either don't know / don't care about invisible disabilities... To professionals who should know better.

Fwiw, my depression and anxiety is mediumish to severe at times, but I wouldnt consider them alone (in my case) to be disabling.

If there is a concern that people with mental illness don't want to raise awareness, then maybe narrow the field to those invisible physical disabilities?

The difficulty is, not all people with mental illnesses are going to feel the same way about this.

Personally, I find mine debilitating. Even from people who know about it and understand what's going on. The unwritten expectation is that I must never mention it, must certainly never joke about it, and now I'm on medication, I'm completely fine. I had to actually shout at my Aunt to stop her from pushing alcohol onto me at a party. I'd politely declined three times. That ought to be enough. In the end snapping 'I'm sorry, but I'm on a cocktail of heavy medication just to stay upright at the moment, and I don't think that mixing them with alcohol is a good idea!' was unfortunately necessary. (We both apologised to each other.)

In reality, I'm struggling with side effects, can't stay up past 9, often can't go out (never on a weekday evening, and only if I've got a full day to recover the next day). I'm still too anxious to take my children to the park, and the idea of taking them to the cinema is horrifying (Hell, I can barely get myself there being looked after by DH!) I can't manage parties and noise. I have to take valium to get through a Christmas concert. I don't have what I'd consider to be a full and active adult life.

That's me 'well'. Well, obviously it's not me as I used to be when I could do all of that stuff, but at the moment, that's as good as it gets. Don't get me wrong - I'm incredibly grateful for the drugs, and I'm a million times better than what I was. But I'm not 'fine' by a long shot.

Like many of you others, I don't know how I'll be from one day to the next. Hopefully mostly OK. If I'm not, I'm not. There's sod all I can do about it either way.

I'm not saying it necessarily that mental illnesses should be included here - there's actually quite a lot of mental health awareness going on anyway, and I think things are getting better on that front. We have strong, prominent spokes-people and brains are considered interesting.

I'm just saying; not all mental health patients think as one.

Agreed, looking - I do want increased awareness and understanding of my mental health problems as well as my physical ones. I spent most of my years wanting desperately to be like other people and blend in and appear normal - and that only served to make me far more ill. The only thing that has helped me was actually finally accepting my differences rather than struggling and failing to hide them - but there's a long way to go if others can't accept my differences too.

I'd love there to be more understanding of invisible disability.

Having Aspergers, I've had all sorts of responses, mostly from healthcare professionals, including, 'Just try harder', 'Everyone does that sometimes', 'Just do it when you feel ready' and 'You just need more confidence'. If these comments were said to a wheelchair user, about climbing stairs, that would be ludicrous, so I wish people could see how it's also ludicrous in the context autism, as an invisible disability.

Defining invisible disability is tricky. I'd be cautious about drawing a line at physical invisible disabilities, because autism is both non-physical and not a mental health condition (it's neurological, a developmental disorder).

Increased awareness is very much a good thing, but I would love to be included as someone with a disability, iyswim. Most MH campaigns seem to go for the 'loads of people get mentally ill' angle, which is absolutely brilliant, don't get me wrong, but kind of risks lumping us all together.

Those of us who are severely affected to the point of it being a long term, lifespan limiting, quality of life diminishing, illness need to be recognised as disabled and not just as like when someone had a fear of flying or a few weeks of mild depression cured by eating more veg. Not diminishing their experience, but its like someone with no legs being constantky told people with a stubbed toe are the same and maybe an ice pack will help.

I think one thing I'd like to see, might be a series of blog posts along the lines of 'things you don't think about when you don't have X' Invited people talking about their experience of whatever, and what a general week for them might look like.

I think that might be a good way of increasing understanding.