Chronically Ill Kat

As someone who lives abroad, with most of my close friends also living internationally, before the corona pandemic, I was quite a frequent traveller. Even during the pandemic I have twice needed to travel back to the UK (safely of course).

Long journeys, and travelling in general, are no easy feat when you have an invisible illness. Travel usually involves lots of standing in queues, carrying heavy bags, walking long distances, and sitting upright for unspecified lengths of time. This is all made much easier for me by wearing a green, sunflower lanyard around my neck. This lanyard is the symbol of the hidden disabilities sunflower scheme, which, since discovering it, has really changed my life.

The Sunflower Lanyard Scheme

The Sunflower Lanyard Scheme was originally created by Gatwick airport in the UK in 2016. They created this subtle, gender neutral lanyard (pictured above) in response to the issues surrounding the identification of passengers who may need assistance but have a non-obvious disability. The idea is that by wearing this lanyard you alert staff members to the fact that you might need extra assistance during your journey.

The scheme was so successful that it has now been adopted by many airports globally (and almost all airports in the UK), the NHS, many other public services and private businesses. You can find a map of companies who are officially part of the scheme in the UK here, and you can buy a lanyard from the same website for something like 70p.

My experience

When I first heard of the sunflower lanyard scheme, supermarkets in the UK were just joining it. I emailed Tesco and they sent me my lanyard for free. In reality, I have mostly used it whilst travelling through airports and on the ferry. And my experience has overwhelmingly been positive.

One of the hardest things I find about flying is queueing for security and passport control. I have a very vivid, and slightly horrifying memory of queueing for an hour and half at Birmingham International Airport. There were no seats and I had a suitcase and a backpack filled with books. I had to stand, with my bags, almost on one spot, for a really long time and at several points almost passed out. My POTSie body reacted by feeling nauseous, dizzy and copiously sweating. It was awful and really frightening! Logically, I could probably have asked for assistance, but my disability has been disbelieved so many times that queueing felt like it would be less exhausting than having to prove that I am actually disabled – even though I look so fabulous! Maybe not true, but when you have an invisible disability and are not using a wheelchair, special assistance services can feel very unapproachable. A few years ago, Schipol Airport in Amsterdam actually told me that I could only receive assistance if I used one of their wheelchairs – which I didn’t need at the time.

Now, with my sunflower lanyard around my neck, special assistance services feel far more approachable, because I know they will already be aware that, despite my looks, I am in fact in need of help. And since using the lanyard, I have always been able to fast track the queues, that once made flying so inaccessible. On top of that, staff are always much friendlier and more patient when I wear my lanyard. Suddenly (corona excluded), getting home to visit my family has become a so much easier ordeal.

The sunflower lanyard prevents invasive questions

Most recently, whilst taking the ferry back to the Netherlands, I was reminded about why I love the sunflower lanyard scheme so much. Not only logistically does it make life so much easier, but when I wear it the assumption is that I need assistance. So, generally, instead of asking why I need assistance, and demanding an invasive explanation of my illness, and all the medical intricacies that go with it, I get asked what help I need. This makes a world of difference.

When you have ME (and other invisible illnesses) you get used to having to prove that you are really sick – and spend a huge amount of time with people not believing your illness, despite the fact that it has such a huge influence in your life. It is really invalidating. But by wearing a sunflower lanyard, your illness has already been proved. There is less space for people to disbelieve you, and there is not the anxiety that your illness will be invalidated. It is incredibly refreshing to be treated respectfully, as a disabled person, rather than being assumed to be a healthy person trying to cheat the system. And this is exactly what the sunflower lanyard scheme enables.

Wearing my lanyard allows me to ask, specifically, for what I need, rather than having to try and fit my disability into restrictive boxes which might ‘qualify’ me for some sort of assistance – relevant or not. It gives me agency as a disabled person to decide what help I need and know that I will be given that help whenever possible – with no questions asked.

Do yourself a favour and get a lanyard

My biggest piece of advice for people with a less visible disability is to go ahead and get a lanyard. They are intended for anyone with a disability (mental or physical) and wearing one has really changed the way I feel about travelling – and getting about in supermarkets, shops and other places where it can be used.

The sunflower lanyard has already made a massive difference to millions of people globally, giving them the confidence to ask for the support they need, or just to take a little more time to do things, when they are out and about in supermarkets, shops, leisure facilities and the other places where it can be used.

Conversely, it has empowered staff and members of the public who are disability aware, to reach out, without needing to ask awkward questions or get it wrong – just based on a simple signal.

The sunflower lanyard scheme is a small step to empowering the disabled community, giving us the voice we need to ask for the supports we need, and the choice to define what and when we need them – all without having to fight. And that is a wonderful thing.