“Why are you parking there? That spot is only for people with disabilities. You don’t look disabled to me!”
“Hey, that toilet is for people with disabilities. Shame on you for using it when someone who has a disability might need it!”
“Hey, that guy’s not disabled; he just wants sympathy.”
Perhaps you’ve been on the receiving end of such accusations and anger—or perhaps you will be one day. Or perhaps you’ve been the person judging, yelling or accusing someone.
While those judging people who don’t look like they have a disability for parking in a spot for people with disabilities, using a toilet or restroom for people with disabilities, or some other assumed infraction may mean well, they may actually be guilty of unintended discrimination against someone with an “invisible” or a “highly mitigated” disability. These situations are just a few of many examples where those with invisible or highly mitigated disabilities are wrongly perceived as not being disabled.
What Are Invisible and Highly Mitigated Disabilities?
Invisible disabilities are disabilities that are not seen or recognised by others, although they may cause fatigue, weakness, pain, numbness, confusion, communication problems, lack of bodily control, fear, paranoia, and other symptoms. In some cases, the symptoms also come and go so that the person feels fine at one time and terrible the next. There are many invisible disabilities, but a few examples are neurological conditions, such as epilepsy; mental health conditions, such as anxiety or depression; learning disabilities; autoimmune conditions, such as lupus and multiple sclerosis; secondary conditions of diseases, such as diabetic neuropathy and conditions such as fibromyalgia, which cause chronic pain.
While such conditions can dramatically impact people’s ability to function, because they are not easily visible to others, people who have them are often not considered disabled by others and can be unintentionally discriminated against.
These people may also have less access to resources, accommodations for their disabilities and support from others. This can cause them to suffer feelings of isolation, loneliness and shame, as well as anger and frustration at being misunderstood and treated unfairly.
Worse still, some people with invisible disabilities might even find themselves discriminated against by others with visible disabilities who consider their disabilities less significant or even assume that they are faking a disability to get sympathy or some sort of benefit.
Highly mitigated disabilities are disabilities that are dramatically lessened by medication, medical devices, or some other means to a degree that others would not be able to easily tell that they have them. An example would be when amputees who use prosthetic legs walk so well that no one knows they are amputees.
“First of all, judging others without unequivocal proof is almost always a mistake. It is not our job to be the judge of everyone’s actions or whether or not they have a disability. As noted, the lack of visibility does not prove that a person is not disabled”
The Parking Issue
As noted, one situation where these people may feel the sting of misunderstanding is when they use a disability parking spot and are judged, yelled at or blamed – even though they qualify to use the spot.
That’s why, while parking wrongly in a spot reserved for people with disabilities is a problem, we should be extremely careful before judging or blaming someone for doing so – since they could have an invisible disability or one that is temporarily mitigated. If we do blame such people or confront them, we could embarrass them wrongly and be extremely embarrassed ourselves if we later find out that they do indeed have a disability. Plus, we would have done something to them we almost certainly would hate being done to us.
“We could better help prevent and solve such misunderstandings and discrimination against such people before it occurs, through education and advocating for more accommodation and accessibility for people with all disabilities – both invisible and visible”
A better solution for dealing with the potential problem, would be to remain calm and to think carefully before acting. (Did you even check to see if they had a parking permit before accusing them? Be honest.)
In some (probably most) cases, it would be better to just leave the situation alone. However, if you sincerely believe that someone is wrongly — and illegally — parking in a spot reserved for people with disabilities and feel that they must be confronted, it might be better to contact law enforcement and let them deal with it instead of confronting the person yourself, which could even lead to violence.
People with visible and invisible disabilities should unite and work together to establish a stronger, more influential voice for all people with disabilities. There is strength and influence in numbers, and we should take advantage of that rather than letting ourselves be divided and weakened.
Preventing and Solving the Problem
Because of the potential for error, it is essential to keep in mind that looks can be deceiving when it comes to disabilities and people who ‘look fine’ could be dealing with more than we realise.
Yes, there are certainly people who fake disability; however, in most cases, rather than trying to catch those people, we can probably accomplish more by spending our energy doing something else.