@myarfidlife: Watching Jonah after surgery has been heartbreaking. He can barely eat because his face and mouth are so swollen and every bite is painful. No one is calling him spoiled or saying he’s picky. No one is accusing us of enabling him. Why? Because people can see and understand why eating is hard for him, his pain in visible. With ARFID the struggle is just as real except the difference is you can’t see the struggle because it’s invisible. You can’t see the fear, the overwhelming sensory experience, the panic, the disgust, or the complete loss of appetite. All you can see is someone who isn’t eating. When you can’t see the barrier, people automatically assume there isn’t one. With Jonah, everyone understands that he wants to eat, he just can’t. No amount of encouragement, guilt, or “just take one bite” would make the swelling disappear. The same is true for someone with ARFID. It’s not that they don’t want to eat, it’s that the disorder is creating a barrier they can’t simply choose to overcome in that moment. The heartbreaking part is that one child is met with compassion, while the other is met with judgment and shame. The only difference is that one struggle is visible and the other is invisible. Invisible struggles deserve the same compassion and understanding as the visible ones. #fyp

Hannah Lea & Michelle Dorit

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Region: US

Friday 17 July 2026 23:38:45 GMT