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PETE MONFRE: So hi, my name is Pete Monfre.
ANDREA FABRY: My name's Andrea Fabry.
MILLY: My name is Milly.
MARGARET FERRANTE: Hi, my name is Margaret Ferrante.
LAURIE COHEN: My name is Laurie Cohen.
TERI SLUDER: My name's Teri Sluder.
PETE MONFRE: I have Crohn's disease.
ANDREA FABRY: We all got chemically sensitive.
Multiple chemical sensitivity set in.
MILLY: I have dysautonomia, dysmotility, dysphasia, POTS,
complicated and complex migraines.
MARGARET FERRANTE: I got a traumatic brain injury,
dysautonomia.
LAURIE COHEN: And I have neuropathy in my pelvis.
I have a sitting disability.
TERI SLUDER: Got myalgic encephalomyelitis, severe
tachycardia, hemiplegic migraine.
PETE MONFRE: My strategy was, basically, to make believe I
didn't have it until my body failed.
But I look good, don't I?
ANDREA FABRY: That's where we are today.
It's not an easy issue for us.
I mean, we look fine.
MILLY: Because I went for so long being told it
was all in my head.
MARGARET FERRANTE: And I was accused of being lazy.
I was accused of making things up.
LAURIE COHEN: One of the worst aspects of my disability is
that it's an invisible disability.
I look completely normal so people often do not understand
or think I'm lying when I explain my disability.
TERI SLUDER: Most of the time, they told me that I just
needed to think more positive, to stop feeling sorry for
myself, and get out of that bed, and get back to
exercising.
PETE MONFRE: I hope that by supporting the Invisible
Disabilities Association, that they can achieve their mission
of just educating people, and to help people
not make snap judgments.
Things aren't always what they seem.