ABSTRACT
Pamela’s parents do not know whether there are any biological consequences of her early development that might affect how she both experiences disease and communicates her discomforts. Illness behaviour evolves in the grey area between the appearance of suffering and coping with the discomfort. The language of disease develops as part of illness behaviour. The limits and resources affecting how the language develops involve both the biology of the sufferer and how suffering is perceived by others. These dispose parents to know about their children in particular ways. What are the consequences if the parent is blind and
cannot see changes of disease in their child, or a smoker with a poor sense of smell who does not notice the smell of a fevered child?
