The Paradox of Invisible Disabilities

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families -- as well as efforts to mitigate them.   One challenge is that autism is an "invisible disability," which does not have obvious physical markers.  

Russell Lehmann at Psychology Today:

The paradox of invisible disabilities is a cruel and exhausting loop. Society tells me to mask my autism, to blend in, to not make others uncomfortable, and to play the game that is intrinsically antithetical to everything I stand for. I’m rewarded when I suppress my traits, when I wear the cloak of “normalcy,” when I pretend that sensory overload doesn’t feel like my brain's on fire and electric currents through my skin.

I’m told I’m “high-functioning,” “inspiring,” “not like the others”...as if that’s a compliment. As if my ability to suffer silently makes me more valuable. And let's be clear, it DOES make me more "valuable" in the eyes of society because society isn't ready for my autism. It isn't ready for the rare vulnerability, the intense meltdowns, or the complete authenticity.

But the moment I need support, the mask backfires. Suddenly, I’m met with skepticism. “You don’t look disabled.” “You seem fine to me.” “Are you sure you need that?” "Well you must be doing well, I mean, look how far you've come!".

Because my challenges are largely invisible, I’ve been denied professional support time and time again. People fixate on what I can do, often using infantilizing or condescending language, while dismissing what I can’t. When I speak up about my limits, I’m told not to be so negative, as if naming my pain makes me the problem. But no one tells someone with a broken leg that their pain is just “pessimism.” The irony is, many of these dismissive voices come from professionals working in the disability space, people who should know better.

Placards and Invisible Disabilities

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families -- as well as efforts to mitigate them.   One challenge is that autism is an "invisible disability," which does not have obvious physical markers.  

From the California DMV:

DMV Legal Affairs Division (LAD) determined that non-physical, mental, and developmental disabilities, such as autism or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may substantially impair or interfere with mobility and are eligible for a DP placard. However, these disabilities require the medical provider to certify the disability substantially impairs or interferes with mobility.

Descriptions that only contain abbreviations (such as, R60.9) or only list symptoms (such as, trouble walking) require further explanation.

Examples of acceptable descriptions include, but are not limited to:Parkinson’s disease

• Arthritis of ankle and foot
• Congestive heart failure
• Diabetes mellitus with peripheral vascular disease
• Autism
• PTSD

Politics Girl (Leigh McGowan):

Here’s how you tell if someone is disabled or not… pic.twitter.com/hPJ1L0Ferx

— PoliticsGirl (@IAmPoliticsGirl) July 18, 2025

Autistic School Board Member's Lawsuit

In The Politics of Autism, I write:  "Support from the general public will be an important political asset for autistic people. Another will be their sheer numbers, since a larger population of identified autistic adults will mean more autistic voters and activists."  Previous posts have discussed autistic officeholders and political candidates in California,  New York, Georgia, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Claire Fahy at NYT:

When Sarah Hernandez joined the Enfield, Conn., Board of Education in 2017, she had a goal: making sure schools met the needs of students with disabilities. Among the first openly autistic candidates to be elected to public office in the country, she saw her win as a sign that her small town was open to her perspective.

But if voters were, her colleagues on the school board were not: They consistently denied her the accommodations she needed to do her job, according to a discrimination lawsuit she filed against the school board and the town of Enfield, which is 20 miles north of Hartford. The accommodations she asked for — both because of her autism and because she is hard of hearing — included asking board members to communicate by text or email instead of by phone and to face her while speaking to her.

The court battle over the lawsuit, which accused the board and the town of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, lasted more than four years. Last month, a jury sided with Ms. Hernandez and awarded her damages.

The amount? $10.

The nominal damages were a result of a 2022 Supreme Court decision, according to Stewart J. Schwab, a professor of employment and labor law at Cornell University. In the case, Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller, the court ruled that people suing under the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits organizations that receive federal funds from discriminating against people with disabilities, could not be awarded damages for emotional distress.

...

Witnesses testified in court that Ms. Hernandez looked like she could participate in her board duties without accommodations, according to Ms. Hernandez’s lawyer, Anthony May.

Misperceptions like these are why autism is considered an “invisible disability,” according to Simon Baron-Cohen, the director of the Autism Research Center at Cambridge University.

Autistic people may be “having a lot of stress under the surface, or confusion or overwhelm, but to the outside, to other people, they seem like they’re just the same as everybody else,” Mr. Baron-Cohen said. “So there’s a change in attitude that’s needed.”

Workplace Accommodations

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of adults with autism and other developmental disabilities.

Wendy Lu at NYT:

The Americans With Disabilities Act, which became law in 1990, bans discrimination against workers with disabilities and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations that don’t pose an “undue hardship” — a tricky term.
...

“There’s a huge gap between what the law was intended to do and what the experience of employees with disabilities really are,” said Ms. Macfarlane, who is the incoming director of the disability law and policy program at Syracuse University College of Law.

Experts argue that in order to be more accommodating to workers with disabilities, employers need to lift antiquated barriers such as medical documentation requirements and long wait times. Instead, employers should establish policies that are accessible to as many people as possible while being flexible and open to improvements.

...

Despite legal obligations, employers are often hesitant to beef up their accommodations because of misconceptions that they are expensive and rarely needed. The median cost of an accommodation with a one-time expense is around $300, according to a recent survey by the Job Accommodation Network, and about half of employers reported that the accommodations they had established cost nothing. (Many accommodations, like remote work, also benefit nondisabled employees, including parents.)

Underlining the problem, many organizations do not have a standardized accommodation process or a centralized budget for it; often, they wait to address accessibility until an employee makes a request, said Shelby Seier, the founder of All Kinds, a consulting firm that evaluates companies for accessibility.

...

“Have an internal affinity group where you have individuals with disabilities talking with each other,” said Yvette Pegues, 45, the chief diversity officer of Your Invisible Disability Group and a board member for the Arc, a disability advocacy organization.

The Predicament of Disclosure

In The Politics of Autism, I write:

The continued growth in white collar and service sector employment (where job descriptions routinely stress interpersonal skills) creates obstacles for people with deficits in social communication. As one autistic person told The Huffington Post, “the conveyor belt of traditional employment puts you at a huge disadvantage with high-functioning autism, because you talk the way you do, and that's an automatic strike one.” In the workplace as in college, disclosure involves the dilemma of difference. Writes Katherine Bouton, an author with a hearing impairment: “If you announce your condition, you risk being stigmatized; if you keep it a secret, you risk poor performance reviews or even being fired.”

Robert T Muller at Psychology Today:

Disclosing an invisible disability can pose a risk for employees or students, as they may face prejudice, disbelief, or negative evaluation from others. This “predicament of disclosure,” where an individual must weigh the risks against potential benefits, can result in people hiding their condition. Registered social worker Melissa Sulit explains that there’s a difference between individuals not being given the opportunity to disclose their disability and not feeling comfortable disclosing their disability. As a personal example, Sulit explains that when she was completing her undergraduate degree, professors would request that students with disabilities register with the Access Centre and line up at the front of the lecture hall to submit their paperwork. This process resulted in individuals with disabilities having to reveal their diagnosis to their peers, which they may not have been comfortable sharing due to concerns relating to privacy or fears of how they may be perceived or treated by others.

Invisible Disabilities: Hidden Pain

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families.  One challenge is that autism is an "invisible disability," which does not have obvious physical markers.  

Andrew Solomon at NYT:

The word “disability” evokes images of ramps, lower-positioned urinals, grab bars and other allowances in our architectural landscape. But an untold number of people have disabilities — from A.D.H.D. to addictive disorder to lupus — that aren’t necessarily helped by a reserved parking spot. A person who walks with a limp but uses no physical support may be jostled on the street like anyone else. An autistic person, or a person with a mental illness, will often be disdained or even assailed for peculiar or antisocial behavior.

...
The Center for Disability Rights (C.D.R.) lists the following invisible disabilities: “learning differences, deafness, autism, prosthetics, Traumatic Brain Injury (T.B.I.), mental health disabilities, Usher syndrome, bipolar disorder, diabetes, A.D.D./A.D.H.D., fibromyalgia, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, anxiety, sleep disorder, Crohn’s disease, and many more.” Post-traumatic stress disorder, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis are other invisible disabilities. The C.D.R. cautions, “Unless it is disclosed, no one knows for sure whether someone has an invisible disability.”
...
Societal reactions to hidden disabilities can be harsh. Some parents of autistic children say that it is difficult to be in public with a neurotypical-seeming child who suddenly experiences a huge meltdown because of apparent sensory overload. People stop and stare, offer unsolicited advice or reprimand the parents for their presumed abuse or indifference in the face of their child’s outrageous behavior. People with schizophrenia have been spared some opprobrium by the invention of cellphones and earbuds: It can be hard to tell on the street who is engaged in imaginary conversation with nonexistent people. Yet while people with untreated psychoses are seldom dangerous, their behavior can be erratic and jarring, and because it is not always understood as being rooted in a mental health condition, it often provokes unpleasantness, even violence.

...

Students granted extra time to take a test may be met by the cynicism of peers; some may choose not to avail themselves of a reasonable accommodation because they fear being stigmatized. Working people who require specific environmental conditions — an autistic person, for example, may need an office without florescent lighting — may attract suspicion and even mockery.

Wayne Connell founded the Invisible Disabilities Association in 1996 after his wife was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and late Lyme disease. He was frustrated by the outside perception that she didn’t have a real infirmity.