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Written by: Christina Carrell
Freelance Writer / Copywriter
I was sitting in one of those canvas painting classes, waving a paintbrush back and forth in a very amateur attempt to recreate Monet’s Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lillies (spoiler: as you can see below, I’m not an artist and the end result bore little resemblance to the original).
“You’re lucky you’re young,” casually comments the older woman sitting next to me, “You don’t have to worry about arthritis in your hands.”
I knew it was an innocent comment intended as a lighthearted joke, an attempt to be friendly, or even as a compliment of sorts.
But I also knew how the observation, however well-intentioned it may have been, was wrong at best and hurtful at worst. I knew all too well thatyoung does not mean disease-free, worry-free, or especially pain-free. I knew that pain could strike at any time, and for me, had begun its assault on my body at the ripe age of twenty.
Few would know it to look at me. Certainly the woman in the painting class had no idea about the pain I’ve lived with for the past eight years. So I smiled in response and carried on with my painting, trying my best to ignore the pain and stiffness building up in my arm and hand.
But her comment got me thinking about the assumptions we make about other people. If I could be suffering and still look normal on the outside, what else could other people be silently enduring?
So I’ve compiled these five reasons we should never assume another person isn’t in pain:
Many people with chronic illness look totally normal – Chronic illness doesn’t always come with a walker, a wheelchair, a cane, a cast, a brace, or any other assistive device. Of course, the absence of these items can be both a blessing and a curse. Among people with multiple sclerosis, a whopping 75 percent will never need a wheelchair. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t suffering.
Continue reading this advocates thoughts by clicking here
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