If your chronic condition causes physical changes in your appearance, it can be hard to ignore the looks. For me, the joint damage has gotten progressively worse in the past several years. So much that I notice myself hiding my hands in my pockets, if they’ll fit because of the weird way they are positioned, or putting them behind my back so conversations don’t have a visual interruption. I do want to be seen, I want to be heard, I want to be valued. I don’t want to be looked at for what my chronic condition has done to me.
