Commentary
SEPTEMBER 2019 | ISSUE 3
“But you look so well!”: An insight into the lives of the ‘Invisible Illness Club’ Health correspondent Petria Koumi comments on the difficulties of everyday life for members of the ‘Invisible Illness Club’, a hypothetical group of people who suffer from chronic but ‘invisible’ illnesses. This is part of a series of pieces under the theme of the ‘Invisible Illness Club’ which will cover various different chronic illnesses, focusing particularly on those that effect students at Middleses University. Brave face, big smile and ready to take on the day. Ish. Having a long to-do list, not a moment to take a breath. All the while looking like you’re ‘winning at life’, strong and nothing bothers you. Truth is, the struggle is right there, but just hidden under an invisibility cloak that only you can see through. Those of us in the Invisible Illness Club know that the most common thing, and most annoying thing, said to us is: “But you look so well!” Yes, on the outside, when I’ve caked my face with makeup, and managed to hide the dark circles under my eyes (which are only there because I have been up all night in pain). There is no way of calling in sick to work and saying, “Sorry, I can’t come in today, because although I look and sound okay, my insides feel like tiny men with knives and a vendetta are having a party. Yes, it’s been like this for a week but each day is different.” One of the hardest things is having to explain your condition. You end up feeling like a consultant, throwing out all this technical vocabulary to only have people stare blankly back at you. Because it can’t be seen on the outside, it is almost impossible to explain what you are feeling. It almost as though no illness can be real unless you can convince others that the pain is there. But how? How much do you say? How can you explain yourself without anyone jumping to conclusions, thinking you’re looking for sympathy, exaggerating or just making it up? One second you may be dancing around, drink in hand and laughing and the next you may not be able to stand. It makes it all seem unreal – how can you be unwell when you seem so okay? Whatever the illness, visible or
not, it is there. It is part of you and having to live with it every day makes it part of your life. Most of us living with a hidden illness, day in and day out, don’t look any different from a completely healthy person. There is absolutely no indication of it just by looking, but it is still there. Being repeatedly told, “You don’t look ill,” comes with a wave of guilt. Are we not living up to what people expect of us? It can drive us to take on too much, despite our ill-health, and consequently end up worse off. The world around us teaches that there is no time to be unwell, as we will miss out on opportunities, particularly those in the working world, and those studying. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to accept that some people may not understand our illness, no matter how much we try to explain. This inability to understand is on them and not on you. The struggle is there, it is a hard and unseen fight, but you are winning.
* Quoted: Nikki Rowe (ww.nikkijadecollective.com)
9
THE FEES KNEES
Arron Wilder comments on tuition fees. He asks the question: Can and should students be forced to suffer the financial burden of tuition fees in order to acquire the tools to succeed in a job market where the bar for entry seems to always be rising?
If you, like me, have been born into a system where tuition fees are the responsibility of students and their families, you might find it difficult to picture a utopia where the government paid for everything. If you were to travel back in time to 1962 you could step into a Britain where the government actually paid your tuition. But did this help students in the long run, or does the current system in place provide more opportunities? In a University setting, I feel like trying to start a debate on the pros and cons of tuition fees and student loans is considered bad etiquette by almost everyone. It’s always assumed instantly that you’re not in favour of this monstrous legislation that’s slashes the expectations of hundreds and thousands of soon to be financially disenfranchised students, who will apparently be swimming in debt until the day they drop. That being said, I do have a different opinion to most when it comes to tuition fees. I am in support of the fees. To me, they are the realisation of a government who, prompted by reality, decided to keep the option of education open to all and were simply forced to make some sacrifices to do it. Or perhaps, more accurately, were forced to ask us students to make a sacrifice in order to achieve an education. PHOTOGRAPHY FROM RAPHAELA VERGUD VIA UNSPLASH
“She was always fighting a battle, but her smile would never tell you so.” *
I think £9250 is a bit too much to charge though, and suggest that the spending cap could be dropped to £6000, or something similar, in order to help students accumulate less of a debt over their course, whilst also contributing to their education. Some articles claim that tuition fees drive hopeful applicants away with their high costs. This is not surprising, and statistics do show that every time the spending cap has increased, applications have declined slightly. But the thing that I feel is not reported enough is that the number always bounces back, and then some. Studies conducted by the Department for Education between 2010 and 2014 clearly show that applications for Universities have been steadily climbing and show no signs of slowing down. It’s not just upper-class households. Hopeful students are emerging from both upper- and working-class families at higher numbers now than ever before, and I think this was all made possible by student loans. I think it helps that our repayment model for student loans is brilliant. I believe that it’s inarguably fair that I eventually contribute to the education that will one day award me the qualifications I need to become successful in the world today. The best way to realise how good we actually have it in this country is to compare the system in place here to America. Going unchecked, badly regulated and corrupted by greed. The American student loan crisis has gotten worse and then a lot worse, never seeming to let up. In 2018, Forbes reported that the total student debt in the USA came to $1.52 trillion, a debt that was shared by 44.2 million students. Students who all share the worst kind of debt. In the US, you can’t claim bankruptcy on student loan debt. If a student winds up dead in tragic circumstances, their loan will actually be passed onto their parents who will then have to pay. In Britain, we have a spending Cap which means Universities can only charge up to a set amount
which prevents people from going into the red about £100,000 deep. Obviously, some Universities are going to require you to move away from home, I myself am not from London but moved here from the sunny, little, coastal town of Eastbourne (near Brighton). I didn’t have enough money to move, but with a maintenance loan I can afford to live here quite comfortably. And when it comes to repaying your loan, I’m a really big fan of how we do it here. In Britain, we base the amount of money we pay back on the amount of money that we earn. You’ll have to make over £21,000 before you start paying back and, even then, it will only be 9% and it will only get higher if you earn more. It is designed to only take what you can definitely spare. I know there have been some complaints about the loan rising in interest so much that you end up paying more then you should. But compare this system to the American model and I think a big sigh of relief is the only appropriate response. But all of this is not the real reason I am in favour of tuition fees. I’m not here to brainwash anyone, I simply believe that with higher education growing the way it is, and considering the size it has already achieved, it would be ridiculous to ask the government to foot an impossible bill. The NHS, transport, infrastructure, the environment, national security. These all cost money, but the government has an incentive to use taxes to improve these pillars of society because they benefit everyone. Educating the students of tomorrow will of course benefit the country. It’s an immeasurable investment. But education helps the individual more than it helps the community, so it is only fair that you pay your dues in order to walk through the doors that university will open down the line. There are plenty of reasons to agree with abolishing student loans and tuition fees, but I think most people only root for it because the grass looks greener when you’re not paying for it.
