Misconceptions about Disability: Visible vs Invisible
Perhaps one of the most widespread misconceptions about disability is that a disability has to be visible. This has a lot of implications, as many many disabilities are generally not visible at all! Also, there is no hard and fast rule about what counts as "visible" and you would likely get different answers from different people.
Generally, the visibility of disability is thought to be marked by some sort of mobility aid such as a wheelchair. As someone who is not a wheelchair user, I don’t want to comment too much on an experience I know little about. However, I will say I have heard some disabled people who are wheelchair users comment on the fact that they have been accused of faking during moments when they aren’t in wheelchairs, especially when walking (because some wheelchair users can walk in certain circumstances/at certain times). This illustrates something interesting about disability that I hope is talked about more: one of the most stereotypical visual markers of disability is not even really a part of the human body. Yet if you don’t have that stereotypical marker of visible disability, unless you have another very visible marker, many non-disabled people will assume you are not disabled, or worse, accuse you of faking.
There are many other visible disabilities, and again, what counts as "visible" here will depend on who you ask. There are also many, many disabilities that are considered invisible, too. The umbrella of disabilities that are not visible include chronic physical medical conditions such as Diabetes or Lupus or Ehlers Danlos, mental illnesses, Autism and ADHD, learning and intellectual disabilities, brain injuries, and even serious but common health conditions like Cancers and HIV. Some people even consider allergies and food intolerances to be disabilities - and as someone with multiple food allergies intolerances myself, I definitely think things like accessible food options are a disability issue.
Since there is no clear definition of what qualifies as "visible," there are some disabilities that may be visible or invisible depending on who you ask. A disability that was once visible but is now given some sort of treatment or modified in a way that makes it less visible, a mental illness with symptoms that are easy for others to observe, a skin condition that is visible but not easily noticeable. A severe allergy or food intolerance will sometimes cause visible physical symptoms anyone could observe if the allergy is triggered, but because it’s still invisible in most contexts, it would almost never be considered a visible disability. Where exactly do all of these fit in the visible/invisible disability binary? Perhaps these prove that such a binary does not actually exist and it is actually a messy spectrum that we too often assume isn’t as complex as it actually is.
The fact that "visibility" is considered a requirement by some people in order to be considered "disabled" is something often weaponized against mentally ill people and people with chronic physical illnesses in other contexts. If someone with a chronic physical illness is complaining that they don’t feel well, or requesting something (ie: "my symptoms are acting up, can I go home?) they will often be accused of faking or told they don’t "look sick." For both people with mental illnesses and people with chronic physical illnesses, they are often not believed about their conditions and symptoms, by everyone from family to friends to employees to medical professionals. I have experienced this doubt from others for both my chronic physical illnesses and mental illness. I know from experience and from talking to others that too often, this treatment causes frustration and feelings of isolation and even leads to us doubting our own feelings and experiences. Lastly, we are also just assumed to not be disabled simply because we don’t “look" disabled, which can be a harmful assumption under certain circumstances even if it isn’t meant maliciously. However, this assumption that we are not disabled does shield us from some of the ableism that people with visible disabilities often face.
One thing I believe this misconception about disability and these experiences often lead to is people with invisible disabilities not identifying as disabled. When they see mainstream representation of characters explicitly considered disabled, they often do not see themselves or their experiences. They may not feel as encouraged to become a part of the disability community. They may think if they do call themselves disabled or try to participate in the disability community, they would be taking up space that should belong to "visibly disabled" people. But likely, the biggest effect of this misconception on people with invisible disabilities is they grew up only associating disability with something visible such as a wheelchair. As someone who can "pass" as a non-disabled person (even at the expense of having their symptoms invalidated and condition constantly called into question), they simply do not think of disability as an identity that applies to them.
I do not fault the disability community for this misconception. I actually see people from the disability community combatting this misconception quite often. As a person with invisible disabilities, I don’t feel unwelcome in the community overall. I feel that there is lateral aggression between people with visible disabilities vs invisible ones as well as one between people with physical illnesses/disabilities vs mental illnesses, and that lateral aggression goes both ways. We could definitely all work on that, but lateral aggression is unfortunately just common in many marginalized communities. I feel in general, any principled disability advocate knows disability includes invisible disabilities and illnesses, and if a person in the disability community doesn’t agree, I’ll probably assume they just haven’t worked through that misconception yet. I think that misconception, while it can unfortunately be held by disabled people haven’t worked through it yet too, is most prominent among non-disabled people.
As far as my experience goes, I mentioned in the previous post that I used to not think of myself as disabled. Even though I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia at 11 and experienced ableism and accusations that I was faking it, I thought I wasn't supposed to identify as disabled unless I was "visibly disabled." Even though I was first diagnosed with a mental illness at age 15 and painfully aware of how society views mentally ill people ever since (and even before), I still didn't feel like I could take on the identity of disabled. Much of this piece was inspired and informed by my own experiences with the misconceptions that prevented me from identifying as disabled. Any well-meaning person who holds those misconceptions can unlearn them and expand their understanding of disability, but people who are ableist will likely cling to them forever.
Identity is personal so I am certainly not saying everyone with an "invisible disability" needs to identify as disabled. However, if their hesitancy to identify this way stems from this misconception or other ones, I hope they unlearn those misconceptions. I think there should definitely be more awareness campaigns about how disability is defined and the fact that invisible disabilities exist. Even though I do feel the disability community is overall fairly welcoming of people with invisible disabilities (as in, the community generally will not turn us away or say we don't belong and much of the community consists of people with at least one invisible disability), I think we definitely all could do more to actively reach out to and include people with invisible disabilities of all kinds who may not understand yet that this can be a community for them, or that they can call themselves disabled if they want. While I do not think taking on an identity of disabled is mandatory for everyone who could possibly be considered "disabled," I am hopeful that as awareness increases, more will come to embrace the identity and add to our collective understanding of what it means to be disabled.