Passing (sociology) - Disability

Disability

Passing among persons with disabilities is a complex situation more commonly addressed via the parallel terms visible and invisible disabilities. Visible disabilities'are those impairments which are readily apparent to a non-disabled person: for instance wheelchair use or facial disfigurement; invisible disabilities are those which are not immediately apparent: for instance hearing impairments, mental health or neurological disorders. Whether a particular disability is "visible" or "invisible" can vary on both individual and contextual bases; a wheelchair user may only use the wheelchair under certain circumstances and move apparently normally under others, a prosthetic limb may or may not be apparent, depending on clothing. A particular disabled person may often have both visible and invisible disabilities.

Whether a disabled person is invisibly or visibly disabled or both can affect the provision of services and the likelihood and types of discriminatory behaviour which is experienced. Visibly disabled people are more likely to suffer random harassment for appearance; invisibly disabled people may experience harassment when attempting to access facilities provided for people with disabilities. A disabled person with both visible and invisible disabilities may experience substantial difficulty in directing attention to the less apparent invisible disability.

The inherent visual aspect of a visible disability provides a visual foundation for building charitable or campaigning activity around, for instance the March of Dimes; while this foundation is absent for invisible disabilities. This dichotomy may result in less funding and care for invisible disabilities. For whatever reason, Medicare in the United States provides much less funding for mental than physical disabilities.