The catch 22 of hidden disabilities/symptoms: Communication methods

It goes like this:

If I talk about my symptoms I am told I am being negative. That I need to stop focusing on my condition.

If I don't talk about my symptoms then people don't know how I am and therefore have unrealistic expectations - leading to frustration and misunderstandings at every turn.

It's a lose-lose situation.

However, there are various things that I've found have helped me get out of this loop.

One is to switch up the methods used. We are all familiar with the basic communication strategies, and for this blog I've categorised them as follows:

Written (formal)
Written (informal)
Analogies
Code words
Illustrations
Visual cues
Actions
Decision making

Written (formal)
Medical letters, journal articles, official websites.
These are good for communicating with health care professionals (HCPs) who are interested in knowing more detail. (Note: it's best get a conversation going and build a rapport with the HCP before asking whether they'd be interested in a journal article you think is relevant - if you walk in and hand it over it basically communicates "You don't know what you're doing and I think you're stupid" - even if that's not what you mean!)
Be cautious about using these resources with friends and family. They can give information overload, on websites information is general - so readers have no idea whether you are affected severely, mildly or somewhere in between and may end up even more confused. They are more effective with people who already have a good grounding but want to know more.
Emergency care plan
Having emergency info handy is very useful. Even if you are capable of speaking, trying to cover everything accurately in an emergency situation is very difficult, having it written down clearly makes it easier for everyone.

Medical alert cards:
These can be great, but make sure the print on them is big enough to be read easily, and that they only give useful information. for example, they don't need to say "affecting 1 in 2000 people" because it's not useful info. And unless they are only for medics, avoid ones in med-speak because many people will have trouble relating to them. Doctors can understand normal English too.
Our keyring cards are actually more informal in the way they are written, but have had excellent feedback from use in both medical and social situations.

Written informal
Personal letters explaining how you are affected. 
Adapting a 'dear loved one' template letter from a relevant charity (such as this one on the HMSA website http://hypermobility.org/a-letter-to-a-loved-one/) can be very helpful in creating a background level of understanding.
This means you can explain how you personally are affected in a way that gives the reader time to process the information at their own speed.

Flashcards can also be a great way of communicating a key point about how you are or what you need - a way to make an 'invisible' aspect of your condition 'visible'. Our experience is that they work best if they are light-hearted, not too stroppy, and get straight to the point. At Stickman Communications we love flashcards (or keyring cards as we call them) - we have over 150 designs so far covering everything from autism to diabetes, from tourettes to fatigue and pain, from go away, to please help me. But you can also create your own.

Analogies
One reason hidden symptoms like fatigue are so hard to communicate about is that unless you've experienced it, it's an alien concept. So explaining it in terms of something familiar can be very useful.
I use this 'shopping on a budget' analogy quite often.
Another popular one is the spoon theory (where a spoon is a unit of energy, you only have a few spoons, and each action you do uses up spoons)


Code Words
These are fabulous ways of communicating without sounding negative. "I'm out of spoons" or "Whose stolen my spoons!" are great ways of saying fatigue levels are high - if everyone listening knows the spoon theory! Code words are therefore best used within groups that know you a bit, or where people are familiar with the code word. In the online community of people with hidden disabilities and fatigue, the 'spoon theory' is so well known that most people will understand spoon references. but use it with family or colleagues and you are likely to need to give a full explanation.)

When I worked in an office, we had the 'Vodka Standard'. When my symptoms escalate, I get symptoms similar to being drunk (due to POTS). And if I get really bad, I need to lie down and cool down - but the symptoms mean I often don't realise how 'drunk' I am, so it was essential that people around me could notice and point it out. Instead of laboriously describing symptoms, things like "Hey, you aren't drunk today!" or "keep an eye on her, she's 2 vodkas already" were common place, amusing, and helpful.

However....

A new colleague started in our section. Halfway through the day "You're drunk, Hannah. 2 vodkas?"

Horrified, my new colleague sat thinking that I was literally drunk at 11:00am, at work, and everyone was treating it like it was normal! - The code was explained and all was well, but it shows how important it is to use code words with care!

Visual analogies/illustrations

These can be graphic or descriptive. I love them. Because they communicate accurately, but with a slight chuckle which, as Terry Pratchett wrote, "helps things slide into the thinking".

 So when fatigue is so bad I can scarcely lift a finger, and I feel tetchy, grumpy and grey, it's a rhinoceros.

Or when brain fog has stolen my short term memory, word recall and general ability to function at the required level, the zombie references creep in.

The possibilities are endless and you can invent any that work for you.

Similarly Internet memes can be useful.  For example for those days when I feel a bit better than a recent hideous patch, but am still very symptomatic I might use phrases like 'fragile-ly fabulous' from this image:

But remember: 50 memes in one day trying to explain your entire condition will be overload and ineffective. One or two showing the key points relevant to that day is much more effective.

Visual cues

These are another one I love.  Flash cards can come into this category, but so do 'traffic lights' type concepts.

Like our 'traffic lights' wristbands, or wearing coloured badges with red meaning 'bad day' green meaning 'good day' etc. Things which communicate instantly with those who need to know, without any conversation having taken place. these can make life so much easier and remove the need for a lot of talking about symptoms while still letting people know how you are so they can adjust expectations accordingly. Even things like having a 'bad day' T-shirt that family knows if you are wearing it, it means you are having a bad day can really help.

Actions

It's important to remember that actions speak louder than words - so if you hide the symptoms that your actions cause, the people around you will never understand. How can we expect them to understand what we don't allow them to see? This is covered in a previous blog: 'when actions speak louder than words'

Decision making

In my experience, one of the hardest things is when I say 'I can't do that' for good reason, and the response from friends or family is to try and persuade me that I should do it. Sometimes I might be underestimating myself, but often it's a communication problem: they are unaware of the thought process behind the statement. Perhaps I know I'm really busy the day before and so will need recovery time. Perhaps there is something really important the day after which I need to pace to be able to manage. So by involving that person in the decision making process they can gain a lot of insight. And can also start to understand the barriers and even start helping think up things that will make things easier to do.

I might start off by saying "I'd love to join in, can you help me see if it's doable?" and then I effectively follow this process:

So in summary: 

There are lots of ways to communicate. If one isn't working, try another technique.

Creating understanding is like building a house, it's best done one brick at a time, with careful planning - each brick in place is a little bit of progress. Dumping a whole heap of bricks in one go just makes a mess.