Sarah WallockMy travel blog was originally meant to chronicle my adventurous escapades around the world. It followed me, wallock, with a dwindling budget, intrepid attitude and unwavering spirit of exploration and desire to connect with others in diverse locales and share stories.
I did not imagine I would ever be writing tips for traveling with an invisible disability from my personal lived experience by my mid-20s! I thought I would just be telling y’all how to avoid Montezuma’s revenge in Mexico or the best time to hike Half Dome!
But come 25 years-old, only 8 years into my premeditated lifetime of international adventures, I was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor and underwent a successful brain surgery to get it removed. You can learn more about that unexpected ride in my memoir, Chasing a Feeling: Charting a Path of Adventure as the Only Living Daughter.
Now, I look at travel and my health safety in my surroundings completely differently due to this experience. Let’s jump in:
Travel with a Buddy
My top tip above all, is to travel with a loved one. Whether it be a partner, friend or family member, I find it’s best to travel with someone empathetic, patient and understanding, who you don’t have to explain your medical symptoms to. It’s a huge bonus if that person has lived through different phases of your condition with you and can intuit when things aren’t going as planned.
At times through my brain tumor journey, I’ve suffered from aphasia and absence seizures. Aphasia is when I lose my ability to speak and absence seizures are a form of seizure where I temporarily blackout. These conditions now impact my ability to travel solo and I am incredibly grateful to my husband, family and travel partners for putting their needs aside temporarily if any of these symptoms were to occur when we’re traveling together.
Use Hand Signals to Communicate
If you’d like to keep your condition and differences under the radar, create hand signals with your travel partner to indicate discomfort, distress and an emergency. I find this has been particularly helpful tip for traveling with an invisible disability – thought of by my Dad. Thanks Dad, you’re the best!
When something isn’t right, I’ll tap my head. If I need medical attention and can’t speak, I cross my arms into an “X” shape.
Use a Sunflower to Indicate Your Hidden Disability
Check out the list of the 912 disabilities on the Hidden Disability Sunflower website to determine if this program fits your needs. Over 1 billion people live with a disability. 1 out of 6 people. Choose from the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower program’s variety of merch to signal to others that you may have additional needs. Additionally, they provide a list of sunflower-friendly places on their site that recognize the sunflower lanyard.
Share Your Location
I always share my location with my husband and dear friends when traveling and participating in adventure sports.
If Traveling Alone, Make a Plan with Loved Ones
When I met my dear friend Allison in London for a little excursion in Greenwich Market, I knew taking the train and transferring to the underground alone would be daunting. Luckily, we shared our locations with one another. On the way to meet her, I began feeling ill and communicated this to her before we met up at a designated location at a designated time. Not only did we take it slow for our afternoon walk, but she made sure I got home safely afterwards.
Sometimes I have to travel alone. When flying alone after brain surgery back to my home in Colorado, I was sure to tell my seat partner during the turbulence to please be very careful as to not rattle or hit my head. He was incredibly considerate and kind. Additionally, I used pre-boarding to ensure I found a place to sit that wouldn’t aggravate my condition at that point in my healing.
Bring Accessories to Lower Your Sensory Input
I’ve now added a blindfold, ear plugs, sunglasses, and scarf to my travel kit in order to lower sensory input from my environment. I sometimes like to have my nose, eyes and/or ears covered when I’m stuck in overstimulating situations.
Have Trust
Fear will only get you so far. It is a constant dance to think rationally about you or your loved one’s condition, and what does and doesn’t make you comfortable. Traveling with an invisible disability may present new challenges. But having an invisible disability or hidden differences shouldn’t stop you from experiencing the beauty and wonder that the world has to offer.
You’ve got this!
Resources:
United Stories for Neurodiverse Travelers
