An invisible illness is a health condition whose symptoms are not obvious to observers, such as multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue or many autoimmune diseases. Because the person may look well, their limitations are often doubted, which advocates say adds stigma to an already heavy burden. Selma Blair has spoken about how MS can be invisible on a good day and disabling on a bad one — a gap between appearance and reality that sits at the heart of her story.
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Mentioned in: Why Selma Blair’s Hardest Fight Is Not the Headlines