Diagnosis, visibility, and “Illnesses You Have to Fight to Get”

Abstract This essay uses the author's lived experience as a person with bipolar disorder to explore the meaning of living with an “illness you have to fight to get.” Drawing on her own life trajectory, as well as on the work of Joseph Dumit and many other scholars who have written about chronic illness, the author reviews the main characteristics that belong to chronic, invisibilized conditions and the implications such characteristics have for the people who experience illness. After reviewing five key traits, the essay dives deeper into the promises and pitfalls of being diagnosed with “illnesses you have to fight to get.” The essay ends with a call to action and ideas for how scholars, advocates, others can help empower and support the ongoing struggle of those who live with invisibilized chronic illnesses.