What prejudices do people with chronic illness suffer?
People with chronic illnesses often face a double burden. They must cope not only with symptoms, treatments, and limitations, but also with misconceptions and prejudices from others. While many disabilities are visible, chronic illnesses are frequently invisible, fluctuating, and poorly understood. As a result, those who live with them may encounter skepticism, judgment, and exclusion in addition to their medical challenges.
The Hidden Burden of Chronic Illness
When someone breaks a leg, people can see the injury. A cast signals that accommodations may be needed.
Chronic illnesses are often different.
Conditions such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, migraines, fibromyalgia, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and countless others may not have visible signs. A person may appear healthy while struggling mightily with pain, fatigue, dizziness, cognitive difficulties, or other symptoms.
This invisibility can lead others to underestimate the impact of the condition.
"But You Don't Look Sick"
Perhaps the most common prejudice experienced by people with chronic illness is disbelief.
Many have heard comments such as:
- "You look fine."
- "I never would have guessed."
- "Are you sure it's that bad?"
- "Maybe you're just tired."
Although often intended as reassurance, such comments can feel dismissive. The person's reality is being judged based on appearance rather than lived experience.
For someone battling symptoms every day, not looking ill can become a mixed blessing.
The Assumption of Laziness
When illness limits energy, productivity, or mobility, observers may jump to conclusions.
Someone may leave an event early because of fatigue.
A colleague may need extra breaks.
A friend may frequently decline invitations.
An employee may require accommodations.
Rather than recognizing medical limitations, others sometimes assume a lack of motivation, commitment, or effort.
Few things are more frustrating than being accused of laziness while expending enormous energy simply to accomplish ordinary tasks.
The "Try Harder" Myth
People with chronic illnesses are often offered simple solutions to complex medical problems.
- "Have you tried exercising more?"
- "Maybe it's your diet."
- "You just need a positive attitude."
- "If you really wanted to get better, you would."
Such statements imply that the individual is somehow responsible for remaining ill.
While lifestyle changes can help many conditions, chronic illnesses rarely disappear because someone simply decides to try harder.
This prejudice can leave people feeling blamed for circumstances beyond their control.
The Burden of Constant Explanation
Many individuals with chronic illness become reluctant educators.
They explain symptoms.
They explain limitations.
They explain treatments.
They explain why they canceled plans.
They explain why they need assistance.
Then they explain everything again to someone new.
Over time, the need to justify one's condition can become emotionally exhausting.
The Suspicion of Accommodation
Another common prejudice appears when people request accommodations.
Accessible parking spaces, flexible schedules, mobility devices, service animals, supplemental oxygen, modified workloads, or extra rest periods can trigger skepticism.
Observers sometimes assume that accommodations represent special treatment rather than necessary support.
Yet most people with chronic illness would gladly exchange accommodations for good health if that option existed.
Social Isolation
Chronic illness can unintentionally shrink social circles.
Friends may stop inviting someone who often cancels.
Family members may struggle to understand fluctuating symptoms.
Coworkers may distance themselves from a colleague whose health limitations seem inconvenient.
Isolation is often not the result of deliberate cruelty. More commonly, it develops through misunderstanding, discomfort, or lack of awareness.
Nevertheless, the loneliness can be profound.
The Paradox of Success
An especially difficult prejudice occurs when people with chronic illness achieve visible success.
If they work, people assume they cannot be very sick.
If they exercise, people assume they have recovered.
If they smile, people assume they are no longer struggling.
Success can paradoxically become evidence, in the minds of others, that the illness is exaggerated.
Many individuals learn to hide symptoms precisely because they want to participate fully in life. Ironically, that success can make their challenges less visible and less believed.
What Support Looks Like
The antidote to prejudice is not pity.
It is respect.
Respect means believing people when they describe their experiences.
It means recognizing that invisible disabilities are real.
It means understanding that someone can be strong and impaired, productive and ill, resilient and struggling, all at the same time.
Most people living with chronic illness are not seeking sympathy. They are seeking understanding, inclusion, and the opportunity to participate in life as fully as possible.
Looking Beyond Appearances
Chronic illness reminds us that appearances often tell only part of the story.
The person who seems distracted may be coping with pain.
The employee who requires flexibility may be managing a complex medical condition.
The friend who declines invitations may desperately wish to attend but lack the physical reserves to do so.
When we move beyond assumptions and listen to people's lived experiences, we become less judgmental and more compassionate.
And sometimes the most helpful thing we can offer is remarkably simple: believing what someone tells us about their own life.
image and some content/research from AI
post inspired by Living Well with Chronic Illness by Joanna Charnas
Book Description:
Living Well with Chronic Illness is a self-help guide for anyone who has a chronic illness or who knows and cares about someone else who does. The 20 chapters concisely address a comprehensive range of issues including daily routines, relationships, medical and legal services, a joyful life, and much more. In our hectic, information-laden world where the Internet places billions of contradictory facts at our fingertips, the straightforward content of this book is an alternative resource for people who want to feel better and don't want to spend hours searching for answers. The tools inside, presented with compassion, humor, and a wealth of knowledge, are for those who want to apply and enjoy new health-promoting ideas immediately.
Living Well with Chronic Illness evolved from the author's personal experience with chronic illness and 26 years as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
From the author:
In the mid to late 1990s, I was particularly sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, an illness I’d lived with since I was nineteen. During these years, I had several run-ins with large bureaucracies, including the Massachusetts Department of Motor Vehicles and Harvard Community Health Plan, the largest HMO in the state. After I’d successfully obtained the services I needed, I’d tell my father about these confrontations, carefully leaving the distress they’d caused me out of the narrative.
My father repeatedly responded, “You ought to write about that.”
I was a Social Worker for a large AIDS service organization at the time, and my reply was always, “My experiences aren’t unique. My clients often encounter these same problems.”
We had some version of this conversation for a couple of years. At the same time, I had an otherworldly feeling I should be writing something. I’d been praised for my writing since I was twelve, but I had no desire to be an author. I was struggling to remain employed due to my poor health, and I had difficulty completing my independent activities of daily living, like doing laundry. Adding a major project to the mix was not an option. But the thought that I ought to be writing persisted. I’d had several psychic experiences that portended future events, so I’d learned to respect them.
Eventually, my father’s constant suggestion and my insistent instinct converged, and I began taking notes for the book that became Living Well with Chronic Illness. Both my father and that voice in my head were spot on. Living Well with Chronic Illness was number one in its small category on Amazon.com, and it was an American Book Fest Best Book Awards Finalist inn2017. I’m so grateful I finally listened to my instincts and my smart father.
jc, October 2022
----
For more posts about Joanna Charnas and her books, click HERE.
CONTACT editor@msipress.com FOR A REVIEW COPY
has gained mass recognition for releasing highly acclaimed books of varying genres
that are distributed internationally. Check us out on Wikitia.
To purchase copies of any MSI Press book at 25% discount,
use code FF25 at MSI Press webstore;
for free shipping, use code ship4free.
(Codes cannot be used together; they are meant to provide a choice of discount.)
Want to read an MSI Press book and not have to pay for it?
(1) Ask your local library to purchase and shelve it.
(2) Ask us for a review copy; we love to have our books reviewed.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR AUTHORS AND TITLES AND TO FOLLOW US ON OUR VARIOUS PLATFORMS.
CONTACT INFO@MSIPRESS.COM TO SBUMIT A BOOK PROPOSAL/MAMUSCRIPT OR TO CONTACT ONE OF OUR AUTHORS.
Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter: get inside information before others see it and access to additional book content(recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, links to precerpts/excerpts, author advice, and more)Check out recent issues.
MSI Press is ranked among the top publishers in California.
Check out our rankings -- and more -- HERE.
image and some content/research from AI
post inspired by Living Well with Chronic Illness by Joanna Charnas
Book Description:
Living Well with Chronic Illness is a self-help guide for anyone who has a chronic illness or who knows and cares about someone else who does. The 20 chapters concisely address a comprehensive range of issues including daily routines, relationships, medical and legal services, a joyful life, and much more. In our hectic, information-laden world where the Internet places billions of contradictory facts at our fingertips, the straightforward content of this book is an alternative resource for people who want to feel better and don't want to spend hours searching for answers. The tools inside, presented with compassion, humor, and a wealth of knowledge, are for those who want to apply and enjoy new health-promoting ideas immediately.
Living Well with Chronic Illness evolved from the author's personal experience with chronic illness and 26 years as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
From the author:
In the mid to late 1990s, I was particularly sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, an illness I’d
lived with since I was nineteen. During these years, I had several run-ins with large
bureaucracies, including the Massachusetts Department of Motor Vehicles and Harvard
Community Health Plan, the largest HMO in the state. After I’d successfully obtained the
services I needed, I’d tell my father about these confrontations, carefully leaving the distress
they’d caused me out of the narrative. My father repeatedly responded, “You ought to write
about that.” I was a Social Worker for a large AIDS service organization at the time, and my
reply was always, “My experiences aren’t unique. My clients often encounter these same
problems.” We had some version of this conversation for a couple of years.
At the same time, I had an otherworldly feeling I should be writing something. I’d been praised
for my writing since I was twelve, but I had no desire to be an author. I was struggling to remain
employed due to my poor health, and I had difficulty completing my independent activities of
daily living, like doing laundry. Adding a major project to the mix was not an option. But the
thought that I ought to be writing persisted. I’d had several psychic experiences that portended
future events, so I’d learned to respect them.
Eventually, my father’s constant suggestion and my insistent instinct converged, and I began
taking notes for the book that became Living Well with Chronic Illness. Both my father and that
voice in my head were spot on. Living Well with Chronic Illness was number one in its small
category on Amazon.com, and it was an American Book Fest Best Book Awards Finalist in
2017. I’m so grateful I finally listened to my instincts and my smart father.
jc, October 2022
----
For more posts about Joanna Charnas and her books, click HERE.
CONTACT editor@msipress.com FOR A REVIEW COPY
has gained mass recognition for releasing highly acclaimed books of varying genres
that are distributed internationally. Check us out on Wikitia.
To purchase copies of any MSI Press book at 25% discount,
use code FF25 at MSI Press webstore;
for free shipping, use code ship4free.
(Codes cannot be used together; they are meant to provide a choice of discount.)
Want to read an MSI Press book and not have to pay for it?
(1) Ask your local library to purchase and shelve it.
(2) Ask us for a review copy; we love to have our books reviewed.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR AUTHORS AND TITLES AND TO FOLLOW US ON OUR VARIOUS PLATFORMS.
CONTACT INFO@MSIPRESS.COM TO SBUMIT A BOOK PROPOSAL/MAMUSCRIPT OR TO CONTACT ONE OF OUR AUTHORS.
Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter: get inside information before others see it and access to additional book content(recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, links to precerpts/excerpts, author advice, and more)Check out recent issues.
MSI Press is ranked among the top publishers in California.
Check out our rankings -- and more -- HERE.
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