arrows to the action

sometimes bitching and moaning pays off. well... kinda.

one of my friends at the MS Society has heard me complain that the ‘face of MS’ is portrayed as an upper-middle-class white woman with a husband and grown children. on some levels, this makes sense - seeing that more caucasians are affected by the disease - and more women are affected (a 2:1 ratio to men). anyway, my bitching and moaning has paid off - - - in the form of an assignment. my friend has asked me to write an article about what it’s like being a young, queer, welfare-recipient woman living with MS. this article will be published in ‘Shared Voices’, a newsletter type-thingie that is published by the MS Society.

now i have to consider what it is that i hope to get across to readers when i write the article. what do i want to tell them? the majority of the people that read the article will be people who have MS, and those that live with them and support them. so i guess i am talking to other people that share knowledge and/ or personal experience with the disease.

i need to pick a focus. class/ poverty issues, gender issues, race/ ethnicity/ language issues, sex/uality issues, age issues, dis/ability issues, resource issues. where do i start?

the reason that i agreed to this assignment is because i reckon that i need to put my money where my mouth is. if i feel like i am being ‘left out’, unsupported, unacknowledged - and i feel that other people (who are different from me) are also being glossed over - - - i need to be constructive. bitching aside, i want to write an article that opens people’s minds and also offers possible solutions or plans of action.

In all likelihood, this article (500 words or less) will be a personal account of my own experience - that will perhaps open up more dialogue and thought about the diversity that exists within similarities. the fact remains that health care policy, social services policy, and public perception are formed based on a generalization. i am not sure that is avoidable - but i do think that it can be modified - can be more inclusive.

dig it.