People see me on Strictly with the most beautiful and glamorous dresses, fake tan, the best hair and make up and think what\u2019s she got to complain about?<\/p>\n
But I deal with the impact of having\u00a0Crohn\u2019s disease\u00a0and have days when I go into hospital when I\u2019m the furthest from the Amy you see on the telly.<\/p>\n
I have experienced body shaming. I take steroids and it makes me put on weight.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m taking eight steroids a day to keep me out of hospital. When people online say \u201cshe has thunder thighs\u201d, it hurts.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been dancing since I was eight years old and dance is part of who I am \u2013 but so too is Crohn\u2019s, which I\u2019ve had since I was 11.<\/p>\n
Although the condition isn\u2019t visible from the outside, some of the symptoms and medication can have an effect on the way I look \u2013 it\u2019s something I\u2019ve been body shamed about and that hurts.<\/p>\n
Crohn\u2019s is a lifelong invisible condition where parts of your digestive system become inflamed and I\u2019ll get really swollen eyes, terrible mouth ulcers, spots across my body and my skin.<\/p>\n
My Crohn\u2019s flare-ups are frustrating and annoying without everybody else bringing it to your attention \u2013 and it\u2019s even worse when it\u2019s comments from people you don\u2019t know. It really sticks with me.<\/p>\n
I can remember doing a dance competition when I was about 19 or 20, I\u2019d been on a really high dose of steroids and it bloated me a lot \u2013 and my face changed, I called it the guinea pig face. My costume was really tight. It took me a lot to get on the dancefloor.<\/p>\n
I remember walking onto the floor and this professional dancer shouted out \u201cshe\u2019s got a fat bottom\u201d and a \u201cthick middle\u201d \u2013 well, that\u2019s the polite way of saying it. That comment has stayed with me for the rest of my life and when I go on steroids, it\u2019s the first thing I hear.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t know what I\u2019d been through and instead of dancing I just wanted to run off and cry. I got through the dance but that lady doesn\u2019t realise that line she said, I\u2019m still talking about it now more than 10 years later.<\/p>\n
\nSometimes they can be ignorant or sceptical but when you get someone criticising the way you look because of your illness, it\u2019s even more hurtful.<\/p>\n
One in five people in the UK have a disability \u2013 and the vast majority of those are said to be invisible.<\/p>\n
Body shaming is awful whether your illness is visible or invisible. Anyone with an invisible illness will be used to getting comments.<\/p>\n When you have an invisible illness, we have to battle through so much on a day to day basis so we don\u2019t need any extra on top.<\/p>\n Imagine you had a piece of wood and you\u2019ve put nails in it. Even if you took the nails out, there\u2019s still a dent left in that piece of wood. Every time you say a nasty comment to somebody, you\u2019re leaving a dent inside of them.<\/p>\n For\u00a0my new BBC Sounds podcast, I wanted to speak with others with invisible illnesses and who have been body shamed to ask what impact it has had on them \u2013 and what\u2019s the best way to deal with it.<\/p>\n Someone that knows this too well is\u00a0Harnaam Kaur, who has\u00a0polycystic ovary syndrome\u00a0\u2013 one of the symptoms can be high levels of male hormones which can lead to excess body or facial hair.<\/p>\n \u201cI was ostracised, discriminated against and I was bullied even more horrendously,\u201d Harnaam\u00a0told me. \u201cI do get a lot of death threats, I get a lot of people being very horrid.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew out my facial hair at 16 and it wasn\u2019t one of those things where I got up and I was like \u2018right, I\u2019m going to face the world now\u2019. No, it took real strength, real courage.<\/p>\n \u201cI call myself brave and I see that within me but sometimes that can be really patronising \u2018Oh, you\u2019re so brave, you have a beard, you look different\u2019. Well why wouldn\u2019t I just embrace my beard? Why is it brave?<\/p>\n \u201cThis world is hard and tough, people are horrible, people can be rude and cruel but when there is injustice, there will always be people like me to stand up and fight for what\u2019s right.<\/p>\n \u201cWith children, there\u2019s a lot of innocence. When it comes to adults, there\u2019s no excuse \u2013 it\u2019s more ignorance.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s affected my career as people will judge you on face value. So where interviews would have lasted an hour. An hour and a half only lasted five minutes.<\/p>\n \u201cThis world will try and push you down and break you because they think that those that look different have low self esteem or no confidence. Well, you\u2019ve messed with the wrong person if you\u2019re going to step to me like that.\u201d<\/p>\n But not all body shaming comes from online trolls and it can be far more subtle.<\/p>\n I spoke to Mared Parry, who had to deal with\u00a0scoliosis\u00a0while growing up and faced a lot of teasing.<\/p>\n \u201cI was relentlessly bullied, she\u00a0told me. \u201cKids will hop onto anything to rip at you. I got called every name under the sun. But I\u2019m grateful for all the bullies in a weird way as it made me want to push and work even harder.<\/p>\n \u201cI always get shouted at in the street by men \u2018someone has lost her balance in her heels tonight\u2019 or if I\u2019m on a night out a bouncer might say \u2018you\u2019re drunk and can\u2019t walk properly in those heels\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m like \u2018actually babe I\u2019m disabled and they usually shut up pretty quickly. But that\u2019s what I deal with all the time. People aren\u2019t mean on purpose, because I have an invisible disability, people don\u2019t know I have it.\u201d<\/p>\n Mared makes an interesting point as sometimes people aren\u2019t deliberately trying to offend or bully. People don\u2019t think before they speak. They make throwaway remarks, but they can be far from throwaway for those on the receiving end.<\/p>\n They can chip away at your self worth. Especially when you can be really low when you\u2019re in pain, that affects your emotions and how tired you are and the slightest comment then can tip you over the edge \u2013 and stress, for me, is the worst thing for my condition.<\/p>\n What I have found refreshing about everyone I\u2019ve spoken to is how open they are about their conditions and how they are trying to turn negative experiences into positive ones.<\/p>\n They have accepted their conditions, they haven\u2019t tried to change for the public and I think that\u2019s so important to anybody with a disability who just wants to be themselves.<\/p>\n DISCLAIMER: <\/strong>The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Strictly](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Amy-Dowden-finished-second-in-the-2019-edition-of-Strictly-with-TV-presenter-and-actor-Karim-Zeroual.jpg\" "\\"Strictly")
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