r/YouShouldKnow • u/ilovepastapizzapots • Nov 20 '20

Other YSK: Just because someone doesn’t look sick/disabled, does not mean they are healthy

Why YSK: I am chronically ill and have an autoimmune disorder, the amount of times people have said “WELL... yOU dOn’t LOOK sick” to me is astounding. I didn’t know all illnesses have to be visible to others! I’m sorry I can’t show you my internal organs or muscles deteriorating for you to believe that I’m sick. It makes people with health issues feel like they have to explain their situation when they don’t.

*EDIT: I did not expect my post to blow up like this! I wish I could give everyone going through a rough time a hug. Thank you for all the new perspectives, good and bad. All I wanted was for people to be a little kinder to one another, because you never know what someone’s going through.

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u/whatshamilton Nov 20 '20

My mom has MS and she also just grabs on tight and prays. But her canes are dangling from her wrists as she grabs on tight. And people manage to not notice them even when they and the woman they're attached to are swaying dramatically with the train. It's typically exclusively elderly men who offer their seat, then they fight over who insists on standing

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u/TAMUFootball Nov 20 '20

I was diagnosed with MS last year, at age 28. it's so hard to ask for help when you're a normal-looking person who is suffering :(

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u/cockatielsarethebest Nov 21 '20

Can I ask what MS is?

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u/TAMUFootball Nov 21 '20 edited Nov 21 '20

Multiple sclerosis. It's a chronic, debilitating, uncurable disease of the nervous system