Archive for August 20th, 2008
How Does the Invisible Illness Week Conference Work? Seminar Details Coming!
We’re so excited to hear that you are eager for DETAILS about the conference Sept 8-12 for Invisible Illness Week. We are putting together our list of guests and their topics and time slots now. But here are other details that you are asking about! Stay tuned for more! I will be posting them here!
CONFERENCE DETAILS SO FAR…
- We will soon be announcing our guests and their topics and times of presentation. There will be 3-4 per day (M-F, Sept 8-12)
- Each seminar will be conducted on the telephone for 45 minutes. (Approximately half presentation, half Q/A)
- Each seminar will be listed here soon with a telephone number to call and an access number you will punch in. Your expense will be the expense of your long-distance service only. You can call from any phone, so you may want to use your cell phone minutes, or if you have unlimited calling, that’s great too. Otherwise, you can calculate the cost of each seminar being 45 minutes.
- If you cannot afford the long-distance charge, you can apply for a scholarship for up to 5 conferences. We hope to give away over 100 conferences. Once we have the presenters listed, you will email in your “wish list” and we will send you access codes for these conferences. We are seeking donations to cover the costs of these conferences if you are interested in helping out. Each caller will cost about $4.
- Please note: all conferences will be recorded and available online for free the week after Invisible Illness Week, or perhaps sooner. We may also put together a CD of all conferences that will be available for a small fee.
- If you live in a country other than the USA, we are working on how to get you the least expensive call possible. Check back soon. If you pay a small fee in advance, we can help you call in for a much less-expensive rate. Or you may just want to wait for the recording to be posted.
We’re sure you will find so much helpful information during this week and be sure to make it a priority to take a few minutes to visit some of our “speakers” web sites or purchase their books. All of them have donated their time, preparation and resources just to encourage you! We’re excited with the line up of special guests we have coming!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )6 Ways to Make a Difference for Invisible Illness Week
Here are some fast ways that you can make a difference today!
- Change your signature file for the next month in your email program
- Post well-written press releases [here is an example] about your story on some of the free press release web sites and send them to your local paper too! Some freebie sites include: Express Press Release; PR Log; EWorld Wire; PR Insider; or for $10 Press Release 1-888 is a good one
- Contact the communities you’re involved in online about invisible illness week
- Pass out brochures at your local doctors office waiting room, therapy office, support group, pool, church, everywhere!
- Put up your “I’m blogging for invisible this week” badge on your web site
- Set up a resource table with your brochures, bracelets, etc. at your local support group meeting, church ministry fair etc.
GUEST BLOGGER: Seeing Isn’t Always Believing
Seeing Isn’t Always Believing
I am one of those.
“One of what?” you may ask.
One of those people who have been chosen to endure invisible illness.
It is not an elite club. Quite common, in fact. Because we have our “invishields” on, others might not understand what we face on any given day—they just can’t see it.
So, National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is vitally important because maybe, just maybe it will help people see what they can’t see and in the process, learn to give others the benefit of the doubt.
The old saying, “seeing is believing” is the proof-text for just why invisible chronic illness is so difficult. It takes a very special person to be supportive of someone with chronic health and pain issues because for the majority, if they don’t see it, they don’t believe it.
Many of us have learned to have a healthy attitude even when our bodies aren’t cooperating. Because we embrace life and often push through the symptoms, others can’t see/believe we are really suffering. If we park in disabled parking places we get dirty looks because those are reserved for those sick enough to deserve them. If we call in sick for the third time in five months, human resources doubts our reason, assuming we have fabricated an excuse to “play hooky.”
I have a confession to make. My first year diagnosed with autoimmune illness, I gave in to it and become a life spectator rather than a life participant. I realized this withdrawal only made me more isolated in my illness, and I was just as miserable laying on the couch all day as I was when I was busy. When I made the switch back to living out loud rather than passively, my attitude improved significantly, going from defeated to victorious.
So, I got up off the couch, still suffering symptoms but ready to live again. I determined not to let the invisible illness define who I was, and let God reinvent me into the designer woman He wanted me to be. Instead of feeling like a sufferer, I felt special. Hand-picked for a greater purpose.
I’m not upset that I have an invisible illness. And now I have more compassion for others. I can often pick out the ones who are dealing with invisible illness now because I can see it in their eyes. And if you look closely enough, you will see it in my eyes as well. That’s what Invisible Illness Awareness Week is all about.
National Invisible Illness Awareness Week is going to help remove the blinders and allow others to see into our lives and know we might be a different kind of “normal” than them, but we don’t have to live isolated lives.
Kathy Carlton Willis owns a communications firm, specializing in publicity, writing, editing, speaking, and more. She is determined to make the most of every minute and her redefined life is better than the life she lived before illness came to stay at age 28. You may contact her at WillisWay@aol.com or http://imlivingoutloud.blogspot.com
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