Disabilities don’t always mean what we perceive or see on the surface. When people think of disabilities they typically think of people like amputees or those with physical disabilities that can be seen. However, there are disabilities that go beyond the surface. Ranging from chronic illness to mental illness or neuro divergencies like autism or dyslexia. Most people go through most of their lives not knowing any different from what they are and not knowing that there could be a problem. It is like a person who can not see and needs glasses but does not know they need them because the way they vision the world is normal to them and they think that everyone sees what they see; that is an unseen disability. From personal experience, when I was younger, I could not read very well because the words would move around on the page. For me, this was normal because I thought that everyone was seeing and feeling the same as me.

Unseen disabilities include a variety of different diseases and types that are classified on the spectrum. Autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, is a disability caused by different environmental factors that lead to differences in the brain. People that have been diagnosed with ASD often struggle with communication, social interactions, and restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests. ASD also causes people to think and learn differently and even affects the way they pay attention to things in their day-to-day life. Autism is not the only kind of disability, Multiple sclerosis, known as MS, and Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) also are forms of disability. MS impacts the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves, which make up the central nervous system and controls everything we do and how we process information. MS can cause serious issues and side effects inside and outside of the human body resulting in vision loss, pain, fatigue, and impaired coordination. These symptoms, severity, and duration can vary from person to person. Some people go unnoticed and symptom-free for most of their lives, while some people tend to have severe chronic symptoms that never go away or get any better. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) while it is more common and easier to spot in young children and adults still does not mean it is not harmful to the human body. ADHD symptoms include attention difficulty, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness, which are usually found in childhood and can carry on into adulthood as well.

When doing research more and more into the topic of unseen disabilities, diabetes was one that you may not expect to not just cause issues to people’s health and weight but to their mental health and family’s lives. Diabetes affects and causes so much trauma and stress on the human body affecting your heart and blood vessels, kidneys, skin and eye damage, and other nerve damage. These all can lead to failure in the body if not treated properly or taken seriously. Epilepsy, or can be known as seizure disorder, can be a genetic disorder or acquired from a brain injury, such as a trauma or stroke. Epilepsy can be treated in different ways just like a few silent disabilities.

Throughout our walk of life, we walk past, work, and even go to school with people who may have one of these disabilities listed or many others that we just don’t see above the surface. Typically it is called cognitive and learning disabilities, most commonly seen in children. It shows low levels of attainment across the board in all forms of assessments, they also have difficulties with acquiring a skill set or changing the ones they already have. Getting over this comes sometimes with age and making sure these children are getting the full requirements of help and backup to set them up for success throughout school. Anyone can overcome this by acknowledging and setting goals for themselves not just in school but in their day-to-day life.

Get to know them and be an open resource for these people to come to when feeling like they are being left out by others. Don’t let them go in silence and feel ashamed of what they were born with, everyone including you struggles with something in their lives, we need to come together as one and recognize although we are all born different we are connected in different ways.