ABSTRACT
The metanarrative of sarcoidosis is still in relative infancy since the disease was first recognized in 1877. As sarcoidosis is often outwardly invisible, the metanarrative begins with the notion that the disease rarely results in morbidity or disability. It is viewed as easily treated and cured, including by some ill-informed medical professionals. This chapter argues that the portrayal of the illness in media, particularly fictional television, promotes this metanarrative, as does much of the information most immediately available online. It is often only when sarcoidosis requires visible aids, such as wheelchairs and oxygen tanks, that those with the condition are recognized as physically disabled. People with sarcoidosis are routinely and simultaneously identified as both disabled and non-disabled (or ‘not disabled enough’), which complicates their identification within the social order and of themselves.
