Cancer vs autoimmune.....who wins this epic battle?

Often times we as Spoonies experience ignorant people who make you wish your disability was so visible that they would just eat their own words for breakfast. A few years ago, my RA took a turn for the worst, and began progressing so rapidly that I had to get a handicap placard. The registration clerk warned me of the harshness of the public. She stated that people didn't care about the type of car.  The only thing that mattered was the fact that I was a young woman with an invisible illness that "looked healthy". A few Christmases ago I had the public ignorance show when a man cussed me because I didn't look handicapped. This came DAYS after I had a hand surgery. After that encounter I started to feel like cancer patients have it so easy. They get the break that Spoonies so need and desire. They get the understanding and sympathies. While we are still proving that the attacking cells in our blood are not poison, yet we have to use the same poison the cancer patients depend on to live. The only exemption is that these cancer patients get to be free of their burden when they reach then end of their rainbow. The life of a Spoonie is not that forgiving. We have to continue with the poison. We have to continue with the ignorant comments, horrendous insurance companies who need proof of our illness ever time we start or stop a new med, and the prospect of maybe one day they will beat RA just like they have beaten cancer. Until then I still say, Spoonies have learned that our need to always be positive is essential in our continuous journey of the mythical pot at the end of a never ending rainbow.