Introducing the #InvisibleIllnessSquad

Invisible illness squad?! You must be wondering what on earth I mean… what’s invisible about that plastic thing on my leg? Or the unsightly grey crutch ruining all my outfits??

Its understandable, you may think, that around 40 different Uber drivers have jokingly asked me ‘have you been playing football?’ And if I’m having a good day, I will laugh and say ‘something like that’.

But it wasn’t something like that. It was absolutely nothing like that.

In the same regard, when a male sends an opening message on a dating app, ‘what have you done to your leg?’ Why should I find that annoying? Human curiosity right? I’m sure they’re expecting a reply entailing some heels + alcohol accident, so when I reply ‘brain disease lol,’ I’m not shocked when there is no response.

I didn’t ‘do’ anything to my leg, misdiagnosis and negligence did a hell of a lot to my leg.

It is common for people my age to be looked at with scepticism in regards to their disability or condition – we are often told ‘you’re too young to be sick’ or ‘you’re so glamorous – you don’t look disabled’. And thus we aren’t given the same care and consideration as others in our community. No one ever helps me on to a train, or gives up their seat on the bus for me… because I’ve probably just sprained my ankle or something, right?

When you look at me, you see a visible ailment, you don’t see the acquired brain injury  resultant from Encephalitis and all the problems that it causes me every minute of the day, the trauma, the chronic pain  and the years of fighting I’ve endured inside my own body.

My friend created #invisibleillnesssquad for people like me, who don’t ‘look’ unwell. 💕