Invisible Disabilities
Not all disabilities are visible
Invisible Disabilities week is from18th - 24th October 2026
By Dionne Hunte
When someone mentions the word “disabled”, people tend to think about a physical condition.
In the UK, according to The UK Parliament Post “Invisible Disabilities in Education and Employment” findings of 2023,1 in 5 people have a disability, but studies about invisible disabilities is limited because people aren’t taking their time to conduct research into them.
The lack of research and understanding has caused individuals with an invisible disability to face challenges, like limited awareness and misunderstanding about different conditions. That can impact their support and services they can access.
Invisible disabilities can be categorised into some of these categorised.
Chronic pains fibromyalgia or neuropathic pains.
Mental health conditions like anxiety or PTSD.
Autoimmune conditions like arthritis or psoriasis.
Neurological conditions like autism or Alzheimer’s.
Cognitive disabilities like dementia or having a traumatic brain injury.
Fatigue disorders like Myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
Hearing impairments, like deafness or tinnitus.
Vision impairments, like blindness or cataracts.
With peoples limited understanding of invisible disabilities, it causes a lack of advocacy. We can see example in our society and within the disabled communities (there is no singular disabled community).
Some people have the mentality that is a person looks “fine” then they are, and even when it’s explained that, that individual has a disability people often have doubts, either because of appearances or how nonvisible disabled people are represented within the media. It’s often assumed that a person is faking an illness or is lying for fraudulent reasons.
Often, the representation we get from media coverage’s is negative, most new articles tend to be about people committing fraud to get more benefits, or people are presented as “being fine, but claims benefits for medical technicalities” and early 2010s media had TV shows like “Benefit Street” portraying people living of benefits even though they look “fine.”
Representation shapes our opinions and views on topics and can be long lasting. Our lack of understanding also comes from our school systems, because there is a set curriculum teachers must cover what is assigned, for example in history topics that aren’t “essential” are forgotten and we never learn about them.
A strong example is, some people don’t know that disabled children, then adults where the first victims of the Holocaust.
The CEO of Disability Support, Charlotte, shared her experiences partaking and observing advocacy within disabled communities she’s interacted in. She states that there is a hierarchy within disabled communities, and in society, which validates and supports some people more than others.
Charlotte told me a story that during group session she was running, they ended up talking about accommodations people can need.
One member of the group made a dismissive comment about how she saw a “perfectly normal person” leave the accessible toilets and was outraged he were in there.
More than a little upset, Charlotte immediately asked, “how do you know he wasn’t disabled? How do you know he didn’t need the additional space for mobility? How do you know he need the facilities for changing a colostomy bag?” the asked, “do you know his circumstances?”
Charlotte summarised that as being “people with louder voices can overpower quiet or tired voices.” If you constantly have to advocate yourself alone, it makes you emotional tired and if you’re taking on louder voices you can become quiet because it’s easier to stop.
Charlotte also realised that there is a division within disabled communities, that people with physical disabilities were given more visibility and awareness compared to people with an invisible disability.
This links back to societies lack of understanding, and our education.
If you want to learn more, be respectful with your questions, and your tone of voice.
Be open to understanding some disabilities aren’t directly visible.
Understand that people are different, and the same condition may impact people differently.
If you have any questions, leave a comment below, or contact us at info@ddnottingham.com
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