A LOOK INTO INVISIBLE DISABILITIES

International Day of Disabled Persons”. This year the focus is on Non-Visible Disabilities (NVD). The majority of people suffer from NVD as they go unnoticed, or unattended, even if suspected to exist. For 13 years I have been the Executive Director of DISHA, a leading institution for children with disabilities. These years gave me an insight into visible & invisible disabilities, but at the same time, they have also raised myriad questions, some of which I will attempt to address. Though difficult to accept by most people, NVD is an inveterate illness that impairs day-to-day activities such as going to school, work or socializing. 80-90% of people have NVD in some form. Being invisible to normal perception, they are not easy to spot. Such people do pursue successful lives/careers but at a reduced potential. The very concept of “disability” is fallaciously looked upon as some sort of “stigma”, although such denials are a disability in themselves. As common examples of NVD, I can mention Laziness, Compulsive lying & Hypochondria limit creativity and cause abnormal anxiety. Some suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) where recurrent & persistent thoughts and feelings cause repetitive ritualized behaviour. OCD can be caused by fear, superstition or insecurity, to name a few. Most such NVDs are picked up at an early age and their causes are too many to mention. These drawbacks are mostly ignored because parents prefer to stay blind to any deficiency in their “loved ones”. Untreated, such blind biases only go to stunt their ward’s full potential.

A dyslexic child with normal intelligence loses many opportunities to progress, suffering silently from this puzzling learning disorder. It can be easily diagnosed as it reflects in late talking, slow learning of new words, feeling confused with similar sounding words or getting perplexed when handed several instructions at once. India detects more than one crore dyslexic cases every year, with millions being pushed under the desk. Half the US population (165 million) suffers from such chronic conditions, with 88% of these not willing to discuss their own or their child’s disability. Consequently, better employment opportunities evade such people !! It takes smart guardians to look consciously and objectively into their children’s behaviour, output and social interaction to detect & understand NVD’s debilitating force. For instance, to think that laziness is only a bad habit can be a cruel misjudgement. Having said that, we must also look at the flip side of NVD. Could it be that humans are designed by Nature to be like that ?? For example, some plants from identical seeds pollinate with different intensities. We don’t say they suffer from Botanical nymphomania. 

Pups from the same litter respond to training differently. Do we cast away the slow learner from the kennel for being a cur ?? 1.5% of the world’s population is diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder. We don’t deal with half of that split personality !? Very often pursuit of perfection can impede creativity. Is it better to accept such vagaries of Nature and move on.?? Many of those who were dealt this invisible hand by Nature, played with resilience to come up with trumps. To follow the example of Celebrities, Sports Persons etc with such disabilities is the answer for now !!

FEW CREDITS :
 Morgan Freeman -Hollywood Actor/Director.
 Venus Williams- Star Tennis Player.
 Ira Singhal - UPSC topper.
 Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Boman Irani - Bollywood Actors
 Thomas Edison - greatest inventor.