Blind Spot: Supporting Life in Illness

Author: Richard M. Cohen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Disease is the shadow side of life, a more troublesome form of citizenship. Every person who enters the world possesses dual citizenship—one belonging to the Kingdom of Health, the other to the Kingdom of Illness. Although we are all inclined to use the passport of the Kingdom of Health, sooner or later, at least for a period, each of us will be forced to acknowledge that we are also citizens of the other kingdom.
"The Blind Spot," literally, because the author is indeed a medically blind person, but more so, metaphorically. He shows us his own blind spot—the blindness, fear, and anger he experienced when he unknowingly entered the Kingdom of Illness, his desire to turn a blind eye to it. At the same time, he also reveals our blind spot—a world we are unfamiliar with, the inner world of those who live in the Kingdom of Illness.
Regarding this Kingdom of Illness, outsiders are always curious, but when listening to patients' stories, most people have preset expectations: either expecting to hear lamentations and groans so they can weep with sympathy, or expecting to hear a story of resilience, then exclaiming, "How difficult that must have been!" Whether it's sympathy or admiration, such expectations unknowingly draw an insurmountable divide between the two kingdoms—"They" and "We" are different—the subtext being: "They are the weak." And it is this divide that has prevented the residents of the Kingdom of Health from truly understanding the world of patients.
When a healthy person inevitably steps into the Kingdom of Illness, they feel profound fear. Because they never anticipated what kind of world illness would bring. Beyond the physical harm inflicted by disease, they must also face the fear of how others will view them differently. This is another layer of fear. This is our blind spot.