Appearances Can Be Deceiving

I was attending a 50th birthday party for a friend of mine, when I struck up a conversation with someone I had never met. The conversation, of course, was with a woman who seemed genuinely interested in my quest to make air travel safer for those with food allergies. I told her how my family often receives dirty looks from other passengers when we pre-board a plane to wipe down the area for nut residue. I discussed how some people have laughed when asked not to open nut containers in the confined environment of an airplane. It is often hard to convey the seriousness of a life-threatening food allergy because it is a mostly an invisible disability. Then, she began to tell me her own story, or rather that of her daughter. Let's call her Ashley. Ashley works at one of the big New York City financial firms, which is quite an accomplishment, since Ashley suffers from cystic fibrosis. Ashley deftly manages her disease by employing various techniques to conserve her energy. She intentionally conceals her daily struggles from coworkers so that she both appears and is treated as normal as possible. Her diagnosis entitled her to receive a handicapped sticker for her car, which is logical, because the more she walks, the more fatigued she becomes. She was thankful for the opportunity to reduce her walking to the bare minimum. However, Ashley had started to refuse to use the sticker. Why? It seems she receives so many dirty looks and nasty comments that she was intimidated when...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news