Dealing with chronic fatigue

I wonder what feeling genuinely welcome means to you. This month, I have been speaking with a man who attends a URC church and experiences chronic fatigue as a symptom of a disability which he describes as ‘hidden’.

Disability is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act, but disabilities which are not immediately visible or apparent are often ignored or poorly understood. People with so-called ‘hidden’ disabilities are often not believed and experience discrimination as a result. Unlike people with visible disabilities, people with disabilities that are not easily seen have to ‘come out’, to disclose their disabilities verbally or in writing, if they need support. This can create another layer of discrimination and make access to support even harder….

For more information about hidden disabilities in the church, visit bit.ly/OCAdisab. For more about spoon theory visit thebraincharity.org.uk/whats-spoon-theory.

This column is curated by Alex Clare-Young, a leisure sector pioneer special category minister for the URC in Cambridge. This month’s contributor is anonymous

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This is an extract from an article published in the May 2023 edition of Reform

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