http://shine.yahoo.com/book-club/-brain-on-fire---a-writer-possessed.html
A normal healthy 24 year old woman suddenly went into a state of paranoia, psychosis, catatonia, and also began seizing. Doctors could not identify the cause of these symptoms until Dr. Souhel Najjar came along. When he was a child, he was labeled 'stupid' so would not come to be anything great. This article relates to how we see illness and disability nowadays. The article comments about how many years ago, if she had come in with these symptoms she would have been institutionalized or assumed to be possessed or possibly disabled. Neurological autoimmune disorders are under diagnosed and how these disorders work has yet to be determined.
The concept of disability and the way it is defined came to mind when I read the article. If her disease had not been discovered, would she have technically been described as disabled or would she be considered just ill?
I agree. I think disability plays such a huge role in society because it is so stigmatized. Disability is almost always seen as something negative and something that needs to be fixed. This woman would have been discrimminated against and possibly mistreated because her real problem would not have been discovered. In relation to your question, I would have asked the same thing. However, even now I would still probably believe that most people, sadly, would think of her as having some form of minor disability because she has this disorder that, ironically, can be disabling if left untreated or unmonitored.
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