Vanishing Personality

I find that often when people see someone lying in a hospital bed, confined to a wheelchair, or have difficulties moving or speaking, that we forget that that individual has a full and complete personality under the surface.

A person can be sassy and sarcastic while, at the same time, being unable to move.

I mention this because I recently watched a video of a chronic illness patient whose pictures are always with her lying in her bed or a hospital bed. She has to use an NG tube for feeding, she has an illness where she cannot use her vocal chords, and the muscles in her face seem to be affected. It's not as though I didn't think she had a personality, it was simply that it is difficult to detect. Then she did a video. By mouthing words, making hand gestures, and writing on social media, her personality just popped! She is hilarious, super sassy, and was making random off-the-cuff jokes nonstop. And it surprised me. But it shouldn't.

I speak of invisible disease all the time, and that because the illness isn't visible on the outside, that we are often not taken seriously even if people DO believe us (which many do not).
However, with visible disabilities, there can often be this idea of a vanishing personality.
Invisible diseases provide their own complications, but our personalities are still able to shine through. Visibly disabled persons have a much more difficult time expressing who they really are. That, in and of itself, would make relating to other people a much higher obstacle.

It is one thing that I truly appreciate about the written word. Those who cannot speak or cannot communicate properly with facial expressions have an opportunity to show others their vast and complex personality.

Everybody struggles, but there are benefits to every variation of illness.