Although society is, as a whole, getting better at recognising and adapting to the needs of the disabled, not all disabilities are treated the same. Those who suffer from invisible disabilities often struggle not only to adapt to their condition, but also to have their needs recognised by others.
By definition, an invisible disability is defined as one which is not always immediately apparent just by looking an affected person, and there are many conditions which meet this definition.
Invisible Disabilities Come in Many Forms
One example of an invisible disability is rheumatoid arthritis, a condition which means that a person may appear to be well for most of the time, but they will intermittently have severe inflammation of the joints, which will render them unable to walk for extended periods of time. Other examples include lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and epilepsy – but there are literally thousands of conditions which could be categorised as invisible disabilities.
Common factors in such conditions include chronic pain and fatigue, which can make mobility an issue. It is also often the case that your condition may be worse on some days than on others – so whilst you may seem well one day, you could be severely restricted in your abilities on another.
Making Adjustments to Your Home
If your condition restricts your mobility and makes day to day activities difficult, certain adaptations to the home such as fitting handrails or stairlifts can be considered. If your condition fluctuates, this might seem like an unnecessary expense on your good days, but it’s wise to adapt your home to meet your needs on a bad day – it will be a blessing when those days arrive.
For those in need of advice on making adjustments to their homes, occupational therapists are able to advise patients on any adjustments that they might need to make in their home for their particular condition.
Raising Awareness
It’s important for people to acknowledge invisible disabilities, as recognition of such conditions is not widespread. Individuals with an invisible disability can face discrimination or even abuse from members of the public, for example when parking in a disabled car parking space. Because individuals may appear to not have any issues on the surface, people often assume that they’re perfectly fine, and although members of the public may think that they’re genuinely defending the rights of ‘disabled’ people, in reality they end up making life harder for individuals who are already living with a difficult condition.
For individuals with such a condition, it’s important to realise that you may need to make adaptations to your surroundings in order to be able to live a more normal life, and not to wait until it’s too late to make such changes in your home. No matter what your condition is, if you need adjustments made to your home such as adapting your stairs, contact the stairlift installation experts today on 0800 046 3438.