You too have already experienced this situation: after ten minutes staring at your phone screen (playing Candy Crush, swiping profiles on Tinder or watching the latest Léna Situations video), you realize that a pregnant woman or a person on crutches is frozen in front of you. Normally (unless you’re disabled yourself or just someone we wouldn’t like to have as a friend), you get up from your seat, sheepish, to give him your place. But imagine now that this person has an invisible disability.
Of the 12 million French people with disabilities, nine million have an invisible disability, according to APF France Handicap. Fibromyalgia, inflammatory bowel disease, ankylosing spondylitis, endometriosis: so many chronic pathologies as disabling as they are imperceptible. These sick people may in particular experience significant difficulty in standing for prolonged periods. This can be a problem in the metro, the bus, but also at the supermarket or cinema checkout.
“I am relatively young and apparently in good health”
This is the case of Francois. Victim of a road accident a few years ago, he suffers from chronic pain in his leg. “I am relatively young, quite dynamic, apparently in good health and, apart from a slight limp, there are no other clues that I have any difficulties. »
In the subway, the efforts of balance to react to the movements of the car exhaust it. “After two stations, I’m sweating. After ten, I can no longer stand up and have to sit down, even if it means going down to the platform. Because he doesn’t want to be scrutinized, to have to justify himself, or even to receive derogatory comments, François has a lot of trouble asking for a seat or priority. He feels a mixture of shame and fear of judgment.
Accusing looks and derogatory remarks
A legitimate fear in view of the aggressiveness sometimes encountered. “The invisible disability is a real hassle on a daily basis”, summarizes Marie, 41 years old. Suffering from Crohn’s disease and ankylosing spondylitis, a chronic inflammation of the joints, she makes her priority from time to time with her mobility inclusion card (CMI). “But as I’m young, with no visible physical disability, I often get disparaging remarks. Recently, a woman told him that she could wait, that she was faking and that these cards were given to anyone. “This is just one example among many. It’s recurrent to have to justify yourself and to feel accusing looks. »
A somewhat similar story happened to Didier. The 50-year-old suffers from severe sleep apnea. “One day, I was resting in the bus, my eyes were closed. A lady woke me up attacking me and telling me to give up my seat to someone on crutches because the bus was packed. I told him that I was disabled. I showed him my card. She snatched it from my hands and didn’t believe me. »
The double penalty
An unpleasant feeling that Laurie knows well, who suffers from fibromyalgia, a chronic pathology characterized by persistent diffuse pain. “I always see suspicion in people’s eyes and it hurts. I get a lot of glares, even insults, as if what I’m going through every day isn’t enough. “A feeling of double pain. “My disease is already hard enough in itself, so having to justify myself on the slightest thing… it tires me even more. This is the reason why Marie only uses her CMI in the event of an extreme emergency.
Pierre, 60, who suffers from demyelinating polyneuropathy, a disease creating muscle weakness, takes fewer tweezers. When he uses his priority card at checkout and receives feedback, he responds, “I’ll gladly give you my card in exchange for one of your nights sleep.”
“I come to regret the time when I had a crutch”
Faced with these difficulties, everyone is trying to find solutions. François tries as much as possible to avoid journeys or slots where he knows that it will be difficult for him to get a seat. “I add constraints or limits to myself and my social life inevitably suffers. The forty-year-old comes to regret the time when his crutch was essential to him. “The easy way out would be to keep taking it, but that would be giving up the progress I’ve made in terms of autonomy. »
Marie regrets that store brands do not create checkouts exclusively reserved for people with disabilities. “It would avoid many awkward or hurtful moments for us. In April, the Auchan brand set up, at the checkout of one of its hypermarkets in Le Mans, an invisible handicap logo next to that of a person in a wheelchair. A silhouette with red spheres distributed all over the body. A first step.