Useful Articles

Episodic Disabilities: Everyone knows someone

By Canadian Working Group on HIV & Rehabilitation Fri, Feb 12th, 2010

I recently had a conversation with a woman who is living with an episodic disability.  As we talked, I was able to listen to her personal story of living and working with an illness that would sometimes allow her to work and sometimes not.  For her, the illness eventually became so consuming that she needed to leave her place of work.  While her illness had a significant impact on her work life, it also affected how she felt about herself and her social life.  I have come to learn over time that her experience living with such an illness is far from unique.

An episodic disability is marked by fluctuating and often unpredictable periods and degrees of illness and wellness.  People living with episodic disabilities are often uncertain about what their health status will be from one day to the next.  Periods of good health may be interrupted by periods of illness or disability.  Often it is difficult to predict when these "episodes" of disability will occur or how long they will last.

Increasing numbers of Canadians are living with lifelong episodic disabilities.  To provide a few examples:

*Twenty percent (20%) of all Canadians will experience an episode of mental illness in their lifetime.
*Two million (2,000,000) Canadians have diabetes.
*Sixty-three thousand (63,000) Canadians are living with HIV.
*Four million (4,000,000) Canadians are affected by arthritis and other rheumatic conditions, with numbers expected to double by 2020.
*Fifty-five thousand (55,000) Canadians are living with MS.

If you are in this category, you may not think of yourself as someone with a disability.  But you have likely experienced pain, fatigue, or other symptoms.  Maybe you struggle with anxiety or depression.  Perhaps because of your illness you can't do things you used to take for granted, like climbing stairs or going for a long walk.  Maybe you had to stop working.

Living with an episodic disability impacts many areas of life including health, employment participation, income security, coordination of care etc.  For example, if you are a person living with an episodic disability, you have probably experienced the emotional, social and possibly work-related ups and downs that come with living with an episodic disability.

Know that you are not alone.

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