We Can't Know

A few days ago, I received a request from a friend to blog about invisible illness. It wasn't a term I knew, so I asked her for more information.

Recently people with health challenges that are less obvious than wheelchairs or seeing-eye dogs have begun networking. One of their challenges is that, because they don't look ill, they may receive glares when parking in disabled spaces, or have people not understand when a sudden migraine or flare up of chronic illness or other disability stops them from doing things. To help gain support, they are having an Invisible Illness Awareness Week. As part of that week, my friend asked all her friends who blog to write about invisible illness this week.

I still don't feel I know too much about this. There is a lot of information available at http://invisibleillness.wordpress.com/

For my part, I'm glad to have the reminder to practice compassion. Yes, I may not know why someone has a disabled tag or cancels an appointment at the last minute. But I can give them the benefit of a doubt.

And doesn't it feel better to offer them compassion than to surge with anger?

Anna