What Happens When You’re Disabled but Nobody Can Tell

Because of the issue of disclosure, there is no way to track the number of people with such disabilities. There are rough approximations of the number of people with, for example, lupus or cystic fibrosis, but some of those people may view themselves as substantially disabled while others may not. According to one estimate from the World Health Organization, about a billion people worldwide are disabled. Of the 61 million adults in the United States with a disability, a census report found, only around 6 percent use visible supports such as a wheelchair or cane. The online resource Disabled World has suggested that 10 percent of Americans have some sort of invisible disability, including people with chronic medical conditions.

In the time of Covid-19, these numbers are certain to grow as people confront increasing physical and mental health issues.

Societal reactions to hidden disabilities can be harsh. Some parents of autistic children say that it is difficult to be in public with a neurotypical-seeming child who suddenly experiences a huge meltdown because of apparent sensory overload. People stop and stare, offer unsolicited advice or reprimand the parents for their presumed abuse or indifference in the face of their child’s outrageous behavior. People with schizophrenia have been spared some opprobrium by the invention of cellphones and earbuds: It can be hard to tell on the street who is engaged in imaginary conversation with nonexistent people. Yet while people with untreated psychoses are seldom dangerous, their behavior can be erratic and jarring, and because it is not always understood as being rooted in a mental health condition, it often provokes unpleasantness, even violence.

We don’t question whether people with profound mobility challenges can run down the corridor to get the door; we don’t ask people on crutches to participate in a dance (though some people who use them can do so). But what are we to make of someone who has to be insulated from extreme stress because she suffers epileptic seizures when she is strung out? What do we do with someone whose clinical depression prevents him from working efficiently on bad days?

Students granted extra time to take a test may be met by the cynicism of peers; some may choose not to avail themselves of a reasonable accommodation because they fear being stigmatized. Working people who require specific environmental conditions — an autistic person, for example, may need an office without florescent lighting — may attract suspicion and even mockery.

Wayne Connell founded the Invisible Disabilities Association in 1996 after his wife was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and late Lyme disease. He was frustrated by the outside perception that she didn’t have a real infirmity.