Malaysia is a beautiful and a welcoming country in Southeast-Asia. We are known for our multi-ethnic and multi-religious population living together in harmony. However, sometimes it is harder to talk about chronic illnesses as the culture and the society refrains you from talkin about negative occurrences. Illnesses are considered negative, and therefore, people with illnesses are regarded cautiously to a certain extent and they are advised to not discuss or talk about it in public. Awareness of IBD is very low among Malaysians. Many do not even know of its existence, let alone understand it. IBD patients often do not discuss their illness with anyone due to fear of not getting social acceptance, fear of rejection, and fear of losing opportunities that they deserve.
The geographical position plays an important role in social acceptance. People living in urban areas have more access to information and they often see display of information in many places. But that is not the case for those living in rural areas where information is scarce and few and far between. When IBD patients do try to talk about their illness, oftentimes, these geographical differences make it harder. Although it is easier to discuss your health issues in public for urban people, they often will choose not to do it again if the reaction was not good. As illnesses are considered negative, talking about them only brings more fear and unwanted attention. The society will think that either the patient is trying to get fame out of it, or they are imprinting fear of something that is not common. This “hiding illness” attitude causes more misunderstanding and more likely causes the patients to develop low self-esteem associated with their IBD.
Malaysians do not talk about their IBD to others due to the fear of rejection. The IBD patients fear that their family, friends, or colleagues will distance themselves if they know about their illness. The patients’ family might feel uncomfortable in discussing or even acknowledging the illness as they tend not to talk about sickness generally. Talking to colleagues is simply averted for the same reasons too. The fear of social rejection is very strong among IBD patients as their very own body is against them and this trauma alone could lead IBD patients to not open-up to others.
Fear of losing opportunity is another reason for IBD patients for not discussing their health issue with anyone, especially to a potential employer. They fear that they might not be able to get a job because of their chronic illness. Potential employers will hesitate to employ a person with illness which may cause them to take leave at unexpected times.. Many Malaysians do not disclose their sickness because they are worried to lose the opportunity that they deserve, therefore, they are not willing to disclose their sickness with their future employers during job interviews.
IBD patients in Malaysia fear not getting acknowledged socially, rejections of loved ones and of lost opportunities. It causes them not to talk about their IBD very casually to anyone. It is a very real health issue that needs to be talked about. Support groups are the first step Malaysian IBD patients have taken to make this disease more known and to assist each other’s. More and more people, especially the younger generations, are getting this disease in Malaysia now compared to a decade ago. Therefore, an accepting society is needed. I hope more people are open to understanding and accepting our differences. We might not have the best health condition but we are real and we exist!