Did you know?

If you walk down any busy street, you will see many people. Some may have epilepsy, but unless they are having a seizure, you wouldn't know they had the condition.

Some will have asthma, but unless they are wheezing, you wouldn't know about it. Many will have heart disease, kidney failure, liver diseases, arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, ME, ulcers, Crohns disease, diverticulitis, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, cancer and a lot of other diseases.

If they are not in an advanced stage of the illness, or if the person isn't actually showing obvious symptoms of an acute attack, you would not know that they had a health problem at all. Yet is it fair to say that someone isn't sick just because a casual viewer doesn't notice symptoms that aren't obvious?

I was appalled at the ignorance of a railway worker who was complaining about having to help an elderly lady who had booked disabled assistance. He was saying that she could walk, he had seen her walk and that she should keep on walking rather than giving in to a few aches and pains. He said she only asked for help when her family was with her. I think I know why - I wouldn't dare to ask for help from such a rude person if I didn't have my family close by either. The lady looked to me to be in her late 70s, and people of that age can have health issues that the likes of that ignorant man couldn't spell, let alone recognise just by looking. Even medical Consultants don't pronounce an opinion on the basis of a casual glance, so why do lay people think they, without 10 years of training, can do better?