Topic: Life With Chronic Illness
Every so often I read essays online about this, written by chronically ill people, and I know this has been a chapter subject in at least one book on living with chronic illness- the absurd notion of chronic illness as a “blessing”, or a 'blessing in disguise'.
The writer, usually female, is still able to live a middle class lifestyle despite her illnesses. She suffers from one or more chronic ailments of the invisible illness variety, but she is lucky enough to have health insurance coverage either privately through her spouse or through Disability, and has decent and caring doctors who do a good job at manging her conditions. She is happily married to a nice, understanding and patient guy who is earning a good income- hence she doesn't really need to work, so her inability to do so anymore is a moot point. She has amazingly understanding and supportive family members and friends, and a large extended illness support system. And she gushes about how “blessed” she and everyone else with chronic illnesses is. To her, chronic illness gives one 'proper prospective' of what really matters in life, and supposedly all that matters in life is having great interpersonal relationships. It's not about the practical issues like money, jobs/careers, raising a family and/or caring for aging family members despite being chronically ill, having decent quality housing, having access to consistent and decent quality medical care, being able to own and maintain a reliable car if one can drive, being able to save for the future, having more of a purpose in life than playing at being the blissed-out yet ill housewife (if one is married). She claims that illness is really a blessing in disguise. If she's a religious type, life with chronic illness will be a spiritual matter that's part of a greater 'Divine Plan'.
Oh, please. Get real.
The reality is, especially here in the United States, developing life altering/disabling chronic illnesses (especially is you're single and/or female) often equates moving from a stable middle class or working class lifestyle to the world of poverty and potential homelessness, and leads to an overall diminished quality of life. People who are able to remain in the workforce often get stuck in job ruts as they need to stay with an employer where they can still get health care coverage, because they are uninsurable on their own. For those unable to work in the traditional workplace, transitioning to a telecommuting job is often difficult at best. Getting on Disability is extremely difficult, and many chronically ill/disabled people who very much need Disability coverage never get it. Instead they either wind up living on welfare until the welfare reform term limits kick in, or they rely on their spouse, lover, family or friends for housing and financial support. Some wind living in welfare hotels, or end up as members of the disabled homeless population, living in homeless shelters or out on the streets.
Housing for the disabled apartment renter may mean relocating from their nice, safe and clean neighborhood into a public housing apartment building located in a dirty, dilapidated, drug and crime infested neighborhood where burglaries, car thefts and break-ins, muggings, rapes and shootings are the norm. State Medicaid programs are being gutted constantly, so far too many chronically ill/disabled people wind up with extremely limited or no access to decent quality medical care. Some community hospital clinics are so awful, have such substandard and poor quality care, that their patients would be better off being treated by their local veterinarians.
Love relationships and marriages may break up when one partner becomes chronically ill, and the healthy one loses the ability to handle the stress and strain associated with caring for their ill partner. Personal and professional goals, dreams and ambitions often go unfulfilled. Family members and friends often don't 'get it'...and some will never understand what life with chronic illness is like, regardless of how many times you try to explain your daily struggles and hardships to them.
Where is the “blessing” in that?
