Hooray. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is releasing studies showing that chronic fatigue syndrome is a real disease and not just “yuppie flu”. They’re also sponsoring a $6m public awareness campaign about the illness. That’s a start in the right direction toward helping individuals with this disease feel less like they’re “psych cases” or malingerers. But it’s going to take a lot more than some ads to change the way our society views people who look “fine” but can’t get up and go to work. Or are at work but can’t work the same amount or the same way.
Let’s face it. We live in a society that values work — and a lot of it. And, when you’re someone who can’t do what everyone else is doing, you feel that you’re not worth much. It’s easy to try to convince yourself that you should be able to do what everyone else is doing. Especially when you look like everyone else.
Even with diseases that can be seen with medical tests, you will run into doubters. .. maybe you’re just not trying hard enough… maybe you’re not taking the right medicine…maybe you just don’t want to get well. We talk the good talk about needing work life balance but we don’t do the walk.
I think that we’re a society in way too much overdrive and too little empathy and imagination.
Rosalind
Taunee Besson says
What heartening news!
Fortunately, I own my business, and my family, friends, employees and clients are very understanding. However, there are a lot of people who aren’t. And the individuals who have chronic fatigue can find it hard to accept as well.
Recognition by the CDC should give the syndrome a lot more credibility.
Taunee