Invisible disabilities, are they for real?

Breathing problems can severely impact your life. If you take 10 steps and feel like you have run a marathon this will really impact what you can and can't do. Go shopping, doing laundry, cooking and other daily activities will be next to impossible if you can't breathe well. The problem with this is that you might not have an oxygen tank or a wheel chair when you have breathing problems. You can be any age and be affected. When someone looks at you they will not know that exertion is next to impossible. This makes the disability invisible and real.

You bet. COPD is an invisible disability. It causes extreme breathing difficulties. My father can only walk about 10 feet without stopping to rest. He is on O2 at home but when we go to the Dr. he takes his portable O2 tank and sometimes leaves it in the car when we go eat at a restaurant affer his appointment. Without the O2 tank hanging on his shoulder, you wouldn't look at him and say "hey he is disabled". I have a heart condition that disables me. Catagorised as heart failure. When my ejection fraction is in the low range, or fluid increases around my heart, I have a hard time walking very far and still breathing! Without O2 hanging on me, same thing, you wouldn't know I was disabled. It also makes me very tired. I also have fractures in my back, and a protruding disk from a car accident and you can't see those either, but let me tell you, the pain let's me know they are always there!

Absolutely! Invisible disabilities include most cancers, asthma, COPD, sleep apnea, arthritis, chronic pain, diabetes, M.S., epilepsy, deafness, PTSD, allergies, brain damage, most psychiatric conditions...

In fact, the vast majority (80% I believe is the latest number I've heard) of disabilities are invisible, not visible.

If you’ve been in a car crash, chances are you are banged up. Bruises scream to be noticed. You may have broken a bone and are forced to wear a cast. This is a type of visible, limited disability. By... keep reading →