Invisible disability
 |
The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (June 2011) |
Invisible disabilities are disabilities that are not immediately apparent. Some people with visual or auditory disabilities who do not wear glasses or hearing aids, or discreet hearing aids, may not be obviously disabled. Some people who have vision loss may wear contacts. A sitting disability is another category of invisible impairments; sitting problems are usually caused by chronic back pain. Those with joint problems or chronic pain may not use mobility aids on some days, or at all.
Invisible disabilities can also include chronic illnesses and conditions such as renal failure, color blindness, diabetes, epilepsy, and sleep disorders if those ailments significantly impair normal activities of daily living. Other invisible disabilities include, but are not limited to, AIDS/HIV, ADHD, cancer, and autism.
Contents |
[edit] Ideologies that affect people with invisible disabilities
There are several ideologies which play into how people with invisible disabilities are treated. The ideologies focused on here are the medical model of disability, and the social model of disability. Each model is essential to understanding the discrimination of and treatment of people with invisible disabilities. These ideologies are pervasive in public culture, and expressed in a multitude of ways.
[edit] Medical model of disability
The medical model of disability is based on a theory of disability that proceeds from the perspective of the medical professional. In this model, it is the physician’s role to diagnose a disease by analysis of symptoms, and then prescribe a method of treatment. The goal of treating a patient is to reduce or eliminate the ailment. This system of “diagnosis-and-cure” leads to the general perception that a person with a disability is "abnormal," having a condition that is inherently "wrong" and which must therefore be altered through medical science, in order to “normalize” both the condition and the person. However, “disability defies correction and tends to operate according to its own idiosyncratic rules,”[1] and this puts medical intervention in the position of never overcoming disability. With normalcy as its objective, the medical model leads physicians and medical scientists to be ever seeking a solution where, in fact, such a solution is unattainable.
Medical researchers may then sometimes be tempted to employ ethically questionable methods; that is, the medical model of disability may suggest to some that the thought process[clarification needed] of medical scientists supersedes "ethics" in the interest of finding “cures.” Consider, for example, Henrietta Lacks’ cells, which have been used extensively in medical research. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks was being treated for cervical cancer at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where doctors took cell samples without her consent. [2] As an extreme example, the eugenics of Nazism underlay the horrific medical experiments in concentration camps, on thousands of disabled people, prior to their being discarded.[3] Disability activist Barbara Lisicki describes the medical model as an institution where “they are chopping bits of people off because they don’t know how to deal with them”.[4]
Because the medical model of disability focuses on curing something viewed as broken, people with disabilities are perceived as defective. This poses an interesting problem for people with invisible disabilities—those who do not visibly present their disabilities to the casual viewer. On one hand, people with visible disabilities are discriminated against because they appear defective, as the medical model suggests. On the other hand, people with invisible disabilities do not appear to be limited in “normal function”; therefore, when disability issues emerge, they are perceived as whining, attention-seeking, or looking for special favors. In other words, the medical model of disability can lead to misperceptions and misunderstandings that prompt some people to be “insensitive and less willing to accommodate the needs of [people] whose disabilities are not outwardly apparent" .[5]
[edit] Social model of disability
The social model of disability was designed by people with disabilities as a tool to help analyze, discuss and combat discriminatory practices faced by people with disabilities.[6] In this model, modes of discrimination are expressed in all areas of public life including work, social functions and public policies, which disable individuals from participation in these arenas. For example, a person with an invisible disability may encounter discrimination while interviewing for a job if he or she discloses their particular impairment. Because western society is organized around a set of work values which emphasizes maximization of productivity and profit while encouraging competition between workers,[7] people with invisible disabilities face discrimination in situations where their particular accommodations might be seen as conflicting with the social values. People with disabilities, visible or not, face this kind of social discrimination in employment practices. However, an individual with an invisible disability such as chronic or debilitating fatigue would be hard pressed to disclose that their particular impairment might conflict with social productivity values. As Colin Barnes suggests, when society values principles based on social necessity, obligation and interdependence, people with disabilities will be valued and included in employment opportunities.[8] The social model of disability helps define what societal values actually disable people through imposed measures, which prevent involvement in public life.
[edit] Prevalence in the United States
About 10% of Americans have a medical condition which could be considered an invisible disability.[9] Nearly one in two Americans (133 million) has a chronic medical condition of one kind or another.[9] However, most of these people are not actually disabled, as their medical conditions do not impair normal activities.[9]
96% of people with chronic medical conditions live with a condition that is invisible. These people do not use a cane or any assistive device and act as if they didn't have a medical condition.[10] About a quarter of them have some type of activity limitation, ranging from mild to severe; the remaining 75% are not disabled by their chronic conditions.[9]
[edit] Legal protection
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} |
This section requires expansion. |
Those with invisible disabilities are protected by national and local disability laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 has been amended several times such that the definition of “handicapped” includes the statement, “any person who... (C) is regarded as having such an impairment” . [11] This particular defining point of “handicapped” puts the assessment of impairment in the hands of observers who may or may not regard others as having an impairment. For people with disabilities, invisible or not, this creates a space for discriminatory practices which stem from the observer’s perception of who is disabled and who is not.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Mitchell and Sharon L. Snyder, eds. The Body and Physical Difference: Discourses of Disability. MI: University of Michigan, 1997. p. 3,
- ^ Samuels, 2010[Full citation needed]
- ^ French and John Swain. Understanding Disability: A Guide for Health Professionals. London:Elsevier, 2008. p. 44
- ^ Campbell and Mike Oliver. Disability Politics: understanding our past, changing our future. London: Routledge, 1996. p. 38
- ^ http://www.dnr.state.md.us/accessforall/download/sfaa.pdf Beer, Dianne C. "Varying Reactions to People with Visible vs. Non-Visible Disabilities in Leisure/Recreation Settings." University of Maryland, 2004. Web. 10 May, 2011.
- ^ French and John Swain. Understanding Disability: A Guide for Health Professionals. London:Elsevier, 2008. p. 29
- ^ Barnes, Colin. “A Working Social Model? Disability, work and disability politics in the 21st century.” Critical Social Policy: Sage Publications. 20 (2000). p. 445
- ^ Barnes, Colin. “A Working Social Model? Disability, work and disability politics in the 21st century.” Critical Social Policy: Sage Publications. 20 (2000). p. 445
- ^ a b c d "Chronic Conditions: Making the Case for Ongoing Care". Chronic Care in America: A 21st Century Challenge, a study of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation & Partnership for Solutions: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (September 2004 Update).
- ^ 2002 US Census Bureau[Full citation needed]
- ^ Pelka, Fred. The ABC-CLIO Companion to The Disability Rights Movement. CA: ABC-CLIO, 1997. p. 264
[edit] Further reading
- Sveilich, C. (2004) Just Fine: Unmasking Concealed Chronic Illness And Pain. Avid Reader Press. ISBN 0-9700150-4-6.
