Man With Crohn's Disease Reminds Us Not To Judge Others Based On Looks (Photos)

On the outside, Ste Walker looks perfectly fine.

He's the kind of physical type who could easily grace the inside of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue or be seen on stage as part of a boy band.

He's kind of a mix between Louis Tomlinson and Chris Pine.

But the reality of the situation is Ste is actually far from perfectly fine.

Beneath his shirt lies a series of tubes and bags he relies on to keep him alive. Ste suffers from Crohn's disease, a debilitating illness affecting his GI tract and quality of life.

Because Crohn's doesn't cause any aesthetic damage, people who suffer from the disease are sometimes looked upon as unfairly taking advantage of societal leniencies given to people with disabilities.

Through a Facebook post that went viral since it was uploaded, Ste is fighting back against this stigma, showing the hidden and very real damage Crohn's can have on someone's body.

People are too quick to judge these days, just because I look normal and speak normal, that doesn't mean I don't have a... Posted by Ste Walker on Sunday, October 25, 2015

To start off the post, Ste says,

People are too quick to judge these days, just because I look normal and speak normal, that doesn't mean I don't have a major disability. To look at me, I look like any normal guy my age, but that's because I want you to view me like that. Look [a bit] closer [though,] or ask me questions, and you will soon [realize] that I have a major illness.

He then describes the battery of medical devices he uses and procedures performed on him in order to simply stay alive.

Ste powerfully ends the article by saying,

So the next time someone says to me, 'Well you look perfectly fine, why are you using that disabled toilet, or parking in that disabled spot, [you're] conning the system, [you're] not disabled, you don't need that walking stick' just stop and think maybe I just want TO BE FINE or to feel normal. You don't [know] what I go [through] on a daily basis and you have no right to judge me just on your perception of me that you can see because you don't [know] what goes on inside. So stop and think before you speak, think about the struggle I've gone [through] just to get out of bed and get dressed and [try] to look 'normal.' Sorry for the super long post but I needed to rant.

*Mic drop.*

Citations: 24-Year-Old's Graphic Facebook Photos Are the Perfect Reminder to Never Judge Based on Appearances (Cosmopolitan)