Stigma or Aura?

My friend Mona has been blessed with a new family member. She and her husband and six-year-old son Andrew recently came home from a compound where they met their response dog, Zoe. At the age of two Andrew began having seizures, often when he is sleeping. Since then, Mona has slept in the same bed as her son so that she can monitor him and be there for him. Zoe has been trained to notice when a person is having a seizure and will go alert a caregiver within seconds. When they go out with Zoe, she is clearly marked as a helper dog. As such, Zoe has the right to go into all public places with Andrew. Mona has been crying tears of joy since Zoe entered their lives. Andrew is finally sleeping in his own room and of course the whole family is starting to feel a little more "normal".

But as much as they are experiencing "normalcy" in their home lives, Mona says she was caught off guard when her son's invisible medical condition became so visible as he walks through town with his dog and she came to realize that this was gift in disguise. Being so visible opened up a window into other people's lives. You see, when people see them they are often curious and ask questions; Upon hearing about what Andrew has been going through, several strangers have started crying in the streets as they open up about their own experiences.

When you have an invisible condition, hiding this side of us makes us feel a stronger - we feel a sense of normalcy since we can avoid the stigma that goes with being a sick person. However, when we don't open up this side of ourselves, we miss out on a wonderful opportunity to connect and share with others.