Sunday, May 10, 2009

What's the Dumbest Thing You Ever Heard?

Almost every disease or condition has an annual awareness campaign or a walk to raise funds. I know MS does. There are news articles, friends telling friends, and even television coverage. So much information is shared, yet we continue to walk and campaign to raise awareness. Hasn't the public learned enough yet?

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?
Somehow, I think other MSers have heard things just as silly or insulting. Insensitive or thoughtless comments and questions are not exclusive to MS.

What have you heard?


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