What is an invisible illness or injury? An invisible injury can be anything from chronic back pain due to a car accident to a Traumatic Brain Injury. Invisible illnesses cross a spectrum that is as varied as the people who have them. Early forms of Multiple Sclerosis, migraines, arthritis, diabetes, and Chrohn's disease are all examples of an invisible illness, as well as mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Why should we care about these illnesses and injuries more than any other disease or injury? You shouldn't care more but you should be aware, and here's why:

Nearly one in two Americans have some type of chronic illness, many of which cannot be seen with the naked eye. An invisible illness or injury affects the person who is afflicted in many ways. Sometimes performing a task that is simple to healthy people can be almost impossible for someone living with a chronic condition. Raising awareness is important because, aside from causing people discomfort and pain, invisible illness and injuries can also cause immense emotional distress.

This distress stems from ignorance. The ignorance of people who judge another without knowing their story. The ignorance of one who writes a strongly worded note and places it on the car of someone using a handicap parking spot who isn't outwardly handicapped. Awareness is important because the lives of people living with an invisible illness or injury are difficult enough without having to worry about whether or not you will be accosted by some woman at Target who has decided that you are not really handicapped, and are playing the system by using your grandfather's handicap sticker to get a better parking space.

Does this sound ridiculous? Yes, it does, but it happens everyday to people across the United States and around the world. How do I know? Because it has happened to me.

I have a Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI). From the outside I look completely healthy and relatively normal, but I struggle with the effects of my TBI daily. I forget seemingly simple words mid-sentence, I have been known to stutter-especially when I am fatigued, I have seemingly random mood swings, I sleep more than a cat, and it takes me longer to process and retain information - these things are all attributed to my brain injury.

My TBI is a result of an accident I had almost two years ago involving a car and my face. There was a jack malfunction - we will talk about jack safety another day - and my head ended up pinned between a Hyundai and my driveway. The lasting effects of this accident have been trying to say the least. When I was released from OU Medical Center I could barely walk. My face was still a bit swollen and blackened, so riding in a wheel chair pushed by my step-dad through Wal-Mart was largely over-looked by on-lookers. However, as the swelling went down and the bruising faded, the judgmental looks and hushed comments became more frequent.

My face is almost back to normal and the only noticeable signs of my accident are a scar above my right eye and stuttered syllables. You wouldn't know that I cannot hear out of my left ear unless I tell you, and you wouldn't realize that I leaked Cerebrospinal Fluid from my left ear for almost two weeks without me showing you the scar on my back from the drainage tube.

This all sounds horrible and sad, right? Yes, but it is an everyday reality for many people aside from myself. I always feel the need to explain myself when I have forgotten a word, or when a customer at my job complains to my manager because they thought I was ignoring them, when in reality they were too far away and speaking into the wrong ear, and I couldn't hear them nor notice they were there.

But why should I have to explain? Why should any of us have to explain? The next time you or someone you know feels the need to question the validity of a handicap sticker, or the reason why the "healthy" teenager is riding in a wheelchair, stop and think about what that person may be going through that you cannot see. These illnesses are invisible. Think about what is happening under their skin and as the old saying goes: never judge a book by its cover.

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month and Sept. 26 - Oct. 2 is Invisible Illness Awareness Week this year.