Invisible Disabilities Week

While some of us experience a disability that is visible, many of us have a non-visible impairment or condition. These non-visible disabilities, also known as invisible or hidden disabilities are not immediately obvious. They can be physical, mental or neurological and include, but are not limited to, autism and Asperger syndrome, cognitive impairments such as learning difficulties and dementia, as well as mental health conditions and speech, visual impairments or hearing loss.

They also include respiratory and chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, chronic pain and sleep disorders when these significantly impact day-to-day life. And often, many people experience a combination of both visible and non-visible impairments and conditions.

Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there.

At GALE we believe that the more we all understand about non-visible disabilities, the more we can help to improve the lives of people experiencing them. So to raise awareness of the wide range of non-visible disabilities we will be marking Invisible Disabilities Week from 16-22 October . We will be running a social media and email campaign.

Within The GALE Centre you will see different posters and table top fliers every day highlighting an invisible disability. Our staff will be wearing Sunflower badges during that week to raise awareness.

How can you support someone with an invisible disability?

Perhaps the better question should be ‘How can we support everyone?’. Because everyone is fighting a battle of some kind. And at GALE we believe we can do that by exercising respect, empathy, kindness, patience and non-judgement.

It’s why GALE has Diversity & Inclusion as a core value. As someone wise once said, ‘if you can only be one thing, be kind’.

#InvisibleDisabilitiesWeek