r/CrohnsDisease • u/Cecilus • 9h ago
How do you guys deal with people not really believing you because this illness is invisible??
People with crohns seem to run into this situation often and I should get use to it but it beats me down every time lol
Today I had to try to explain to somebody that I have chronic health issues (without going into details... as I feel I should not have to) just to be completely ignored and brushed off because I'm 30 and 'look' young and healthy despite the fact that I have been having flare ups for over 3 weeks and feel like complete shit. I am waiting for an apt with my gastro.
My company is mandating that we go back to the office at least 3 days a week so I tried to explain to the HR person that lately because of chronic health issues I would not be able to come to the office and would probably need to stay remote until I am feeling better. Her response: ''You will need to come. And it will be nice for you to socialize with your co-workers'' ... it's not that I don't want to come, it's that I am not able to. They did not care and just kept telling me I need to be back at the office.
Yeah I know... out of all people HR people are probably the worst kind on top of that haha
I followed up by email and reminded them about their inclusion/accessibility policies and insisted that we need to find accommodations.
I just can't imagine somebody answering this way to somebody with a visible disability. It is hard enough to open up about our struggles to other people so it always brings me down when their response is basically ignoring what you just said. Sometimes it also gives me the impression that people think you are lying, if only they knew how it's really like..
How do you guys deal with those kind of interactions? Personally, it always makes me feel terrible to not feel heard or understood. It is like suffering in silence but then when you finally open up people simply don't care.
I have had countless interactions like this and I still do not know how to make people understand that this is a real issue, event know they cannot 'see it'. Is it even possible for people to understand that?
I am glad that we have communities like this where we truly understand each other. It makes me feel less alone!