Hidden Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses

Hidden disabilities and chronic illnesses are conditions that limit a person’s ability to move through life in the way society expects, despite the lack of physical signs of a disability. People with hidden disabilities may experience chronic fatigue, brain fog, intense pain, digestive problems, weakness, dizziness, and other unobservable symptoms. Low vision, hearing loss, and mental illness can also be invisible disabilities.

Life with a chronic illness includes ebbs and flows of pain and flare-ups. During some periods, someone with a chronic illness can pack their days with work, hobbies, sports, and church activities. In other periods, a person may need to limit their commitments to part-time employment and one or two other responsibilities. In times of intense flare-ups, someone with a chronic illness may be faced with a difficult choice of prioritizing their job, family, or church commitments due to severely limited energy and increased pain.

Faith communities can support those with chronic illness by bearing witness to the pain, extending grace when flare-ups occur, and accommodating needs as they arise. Additionally, congregations can acknowledge the extra energy and resilience required to navigate the world with unrecognized disabilities by routinely asking what care they can give to those in their congregation with chronic illness.

Resources

Resources from Others

Recommended Reading:

• Dancing with Elephants, Jarem Sawatsky
• Being Well When We’re Ill, Marva J. Dawn
• The Wisdom of the Body, Christine Valters Paintner
• Everything Happens for a Reason, Kate Bowler
• No Cure for Being Human, Kate Bowler