Disability Awareness

Invisible Disabilities Week • October 18–24

Four Out Of Five People With A Disability Aren’t Using A Wheelchair Or A Cane.

Chronic pain, autoimmune disease, long COVID, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, learning differences, ADHD, autism, and mental health conditions rarely come with a visible sign. That doesn’t make them smaller. It makes them easier to miss, and easier to doubt.

70M+

U.S. adults who reported having a disability in 2022. Source: CDC, July 2024.

80%

of people with a disability who don’t use a wheelchair, cane, or other visible device, per IDA founder Wayne Connell.

1996

the year Sherri Connell coined the term “invisible disability,” three decades before this week.

3M+

Sunflower Lanyards worn worldwide as a voluntary, global signal for a hidden disability, since 2016.

What “Invisible” Covers

None of these come with a sign. All of them are real.

Chronic Pain Migraine Autoimmune Disease Long COVID Epilepsy Diabetes Brain Injury Dyslexia ADHD Autism PTSD Anxiety & Depression Hearing Loss Low Vision

Why We Are Talking About This

Sherri Connell didn’t coin the term “invisible disability” for a campaign. She coined it because people kept telling her she looked fine.

In the mid-1990s, Sherri Connell was living with multiple sclerosis and late-stage Lyme disease. She did not look sick, so people around her assumed she wasn’t. She started writing pamphlets just to help the people closest to her understand what was happening in her body. Those pamphlets became a name for something that had never had one. Her husband, Wayne, saw what she’d written and believed more people needed to hear it. In 2004 he incorporated what she’d started as a nonprofit. Ten years later, in 2014, the Invisible Disabilities® Association introduced Invisible Disabilities Week. This is its twelfth year.

“Eighty percent of those with invisible disabilities don’t use an assistive device, so how is someone to know?” That’s Wayne Connell, IDA’s founder, explaining why he pushed for Colorado’s disability symbol law. An officer meeting someone for ten seconds has almost nothing to go on. The symbol gives them one more real fact instead of a guess.

That Colorado law is real, and it’s a good example of what this week is about. The symbol works like an organ donor heart: voluntary, printed on the license, visible to an officer who runs the plate. An autistic person avoiding eye contact can get misread as disrespectful. A person mid-panic-attack can get misread as uncooperative. The symbol does not explain what someone is dealing with, it just tells an officer there is more going on than what they can see. Alaska and Utah have adopted a version of it too.

Looking fine and being fine are not the same thing, and most disabilities are the first one without being the second.

Understand What This Week Is About

Invisible Disabilities: What It Involves

What counts as an invisible disability?

Any physical, mental, neurological, sensory, or cognitive condition that limits a person’s daily life without an outward sign. Chronic pain, autoimmune disease, epilepsy, diabetes, brain injury, learning differences, ADHD, autism, and conditions like anxiety, depression, and PTSD all qualify. The disability is real. The evidence for it just isn’t visible from across a room.

What is the Sunflower Lanyard?

A green lanyard printed with sunflowers that a person can choose to wear to signal they may need extra time, patience, or support. Gatwick Airport and a group of charities started it in 2016. It’s since spread to airports, railways, banks, universities, and stadiums across the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and New Zealand, with more than 3 million handed out. Brazil made it a legally recognized national symbol in 2023.

Why put a disability symbol on a driver’s license?

Colorado’s HB 21-1014 lets residents voluntarily add a disability marker to their license or ID, similar to the organ donor symbol. It gives law enforcement one more real fact to work with in a traffic stop or emergency, instead of a guess. Alaska and Utah have their own versions.

Does a mental health condition count as a disability?

Yes, when it substantially limits a major life activity, which is the same standard used for a physical condition. Anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other mental health conditions belong in this conversation alongside chronic illness and neurological conditions, not in a separate, lesser category.

Why do so few people use a visible aid?

Because most invisible disabilities don’t require one. A wheelchair, cane, or brace helps with a mobility limitation specifically. Chronic pain, autoimmune flares, seizure disorders, and cognitive or sensory conditions often have nothing for a mobility aid to assist, which is exactly why they go unseen.

What does support look like?

Not a demand for proof. Ask what would make something easier rather than assuming you already know. Respect a request for a seat, a break, quiet, flexibility, or captions. Don’t comment on whether someone “looks sick” or “doesn’t look disabled.” None of that requires knowing a diagnosis.

Where To Go From Here

Document what you’re feeling. Take it to a doctor sooner rather than later. You don’t need anyone else to believe you, you need care.

These organizations do the actual work, from research and advocacy to the practical systems that make public spaces and workplaces easier to navigate.

Founding Organization

Invisible Disabilities® Association

Founded by Sherri and Wayne Connell. Runs Invisible Disabilities Week every October and publishes education, support, and advocacy resources.

invisibledisabilities.org

Global Recognition Program

Hidden Disabilities Sunflower

The organization behind the green Sunflower Lanyard, now recognized at airports, transit systems, and venues in more than a dozen countries.

hdsunflower.com

Federal Data

CDC Disability and Health

Government data on disability prevalence, type, and health care access across the U.S. population, the source of the 70 million figure above.

cdc.gov/disability-and-health

Workplace Accommodations

Job Accommodation Network

A free, U.S. Department of Labor-funded service that helps employers and employees figure out reasonable accommodations for invisible and visible disabilities alike.

askjan.org

Most Of What Helps Here Costs Nothing And Takes No Medical Knowledge At All.

You don’t have to understand someone’s condition to make room for it. You just have to stop assuming silence or a normal-looking day means everything is fine.

Ask “what would make this easier?” instead of guessing what someone needs
Believe a request for a seat, a break, quiet, or flexibility without asking for proof first
Never comment on whether someone “looks sick” or “doesn’t look disabled”
Add captions to video content and use a font and contrast that are easy to read
Write clear headings and give people more than one way to take in information
Offer flexible participation instead of assuming everyone has the same energy that day