https://www.mefoggydog.org/2017/08/13/invisible-disability/ Raising awareness of M.E. with every paw-step Tue, 06 Nov 2018 17:33:10 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.mefoggydog.org/2017/08/13/invisible-disability/#comment-93 Mon, 14 Aug 2017 05:04:35 +0000 https://foggy.asra.co.uk/invisible-disability/#comment-93 Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry you had to go through all this. Of course, thank God your dad is home and on the mend. Of course you had to take time away from Foggy! As for how you were treated, while appalling, it is all too common. I remember being so sick at one point that I had to use a walker. I got on to the subway/metro/(insert proper term here) and there were two girls sitting down – one in the reserved seat for people with disabilities. There I am, with my walker, getting bizarre and dirty looks from many passengers (after all I LOOK healthy, therefore I must be ��) I'm fully expecting the girl in the reserved seat to get up. Nope. When I finally asked her for the seat I was greeted with a scathing and disgusted look. Yes, she finally gave me her seat but she was NOT happy about it. Now never mind that there were LOTS of people sitting down (doing their utmost best to ignore me) who could have gotten up. I think this issue goes much deeper than manners; I think it's a cultural issue that only seems to be getting worse. So you could show up carrying a giant ME banner with a brass band ushering you in and I don't know if you would have been treated any better. That's why we need to grow a tough outer shell so that we can ask for what we desperately need and to hell with what looks we get or what people are thinking of us! Can you imagine what would happened if you had collapsed?? You could have been seriously injured!! If we are going to have any hope of living well with our illnesses, we need to take responsibility for our needs. I'm by no means saying this is easy. I'm at this for 7 years now and I still feel uncomfortable asking for what I need – knowing full well that I could be on the receiving end of some pretty nasty treat (you should see the looks I get when I have the audacity to use the handicapped parking – which I reserve for my worst days. But I refuse to suffer needlessly due to the ignorance of others. I don't know if that makes you feel any better or worse. I just wanted you to know that you have a sympathetic ear on this side of the world – and probably every person dealing with an invisible Illnesses; which I know is part of the reason you created Foggy. Bless your heart for doing so! You are making a difference Sally.
Hugs from Kristina in BC ❤️

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