I also used to think arthritis meant some kind of mild pain in elderly people’s hands or whatever. Then I began to suffer from a form of arthritis most people don’t know about, complicated by a usually harmless underlying disorder that makes treatment for my form of arthritis ineffective or dangerous.

Now, walking is often so painful for me that I spend most of my days sitting down, even though I’ve spent most of my life energetic and athletic.

Good health is something most of us never think about. Lack of good health is something that always afflicts other people, isn’t it?

I think it’s good you’re writing about this, because only by talking about painful disabilities can we bring them out of the shadows and make dealing with them more of a collective than individual struggle.