As someone who was diagnosed with breast cancer in August and has been in treatment ever since, I greatly appreciated Elsa Sjunneson-Henry’s article “My artificial eye’’ (Ideas, April 16). From my own loss of energy, thinking ability, and hair, I’ve become keenly aware that so many of us carry some disability with us every minute of every day, visible to others or not.

Whether grief at the loss of a child; pain that inhibits movement; shame of a stigmatized or little-known illness, such as mental illness or colitis; or side effects from cancer or chemotherapy, many of us find it hard to put on a happy face to the world while struggling with pain and a yearning for awareness and acceptance.

I try not to judge strangers or friends in random encounters, while not knowing what personal challenges they may face. Though Sjunneson-Henry says little about any emotional scarring the loss of her eye may have caused her, her courage in revealing the sheer physical and logistical burden she faces in living with her disability is testament to what many of us face daily. I am grateful for her honest portrayal of her situation and feel honored to have been invited to share her story.

Lisa Rucinski

Newton