Well apparently not. Julie Stachowiak found a survey by the UK MS Society to see how much the public knows about MS. Almost half - 40% - could not name even one symptom! Many confused MS with another condition all together. There is much left to learn.
Julie continues with a link to her previous post when she asked MSers about the dumbest thing people have said to them about their MS. These are good. Sadly, they are also familiar. Read them here.
I can relate. As I read through the comments, I thought of a couple I had heard.
- The week I was diagnosed, before I had a chance to make plans, a coworker asked me how long I planned to work. I told him I would probably go home around 5:30.
- When I thanked a woman for opening the door for my scooter and me, she said, "I wish I had one of those [scooter]. Sometimes I'm lazy, too." LAZY? LAZY, TOO?
What have you heard?
technorati tags: , downthemspath, ms, multiplesclerosis, msawareness, juliestachowiak, ukmssociety, mssurvey, vicki
4 comments:
none of the things people said surprised me. It's amazing how clueless some can be. I've just resigned myself to knowing that they just don't/can't get it, and personally, I'm happy for them that they don't.
"You are so lucky to have that scooter." "Can I borrow it?" "Gave up on your cane huh?" "Is that Jerry's Kids?" And whne I first told my mom I had MS: "Do you get one of those handicapped parking spaces now?" (She was VERT excited.)
Hi Vicki,
Hope you are doing well and having a great weekend.
Love,
Herrad
Sadly, when it comes to awareness of many medical conditions, the general population is completely unaware of anything more than the name of the condition. With friends and relatives having Rheumatoid Arthritis and Diabetes, I see this ignorance all the time. As a result, I think the education campaigns can't be retired anytime soon.
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