BBC Breakfast News - MS Interviewee - Pick up thy bed and walk!

Thanks for that! Its interesting. Lyn x

I so it it really pissed me off!!! well if she can work 35 hours a week good luck to her but i’m not her and would love to have a job or to drive or to walk or to clean my house or to get out of the house without a body guard!!! yes i so it!!! shame on bbc and her!

Actually, I’d say shame on you!

This lady didn’t make any sweeping generalisations about how everyone else with MS should be back in the workplace & stop scrounging, she merely commented on her own situation and how, with the help of adjustments from her employers and taxis provided by ATW, she had been able to stay in employment.

What is wrong with that?

We all know MS is a variable condition and I’m very sorry that many people are unable to work with it, but for crying out loud people…stop attacking this poor lady who might actually be reading this forum.

Have you ever considered that always stating the worst case scenario might give employers an excuse to right off any staff they currently have with MS & make the plight of anyone with MS looking for a job even harder?

The stench of sour grapes around here is making me feel quite sick!

Sometimes I find the negativity of this forum hard to deal with! Yes MS is rubbish, a degenerative condition with a whole host of hourly and daily challenges. However, I would like to take the opportunity to remind readers that 75% of MSers DO NOT end up in wheelchairs. I am young and recently diagnosed. Some of you will feel this does not qualify me to express my opinion. However, I have already had to reduce my working hours. Although I appreciate those of you that have replied have probably been dealt the worst hand of MS, negativity is not the way forward. Especially for people like myself. I’m trying to convince myself on a daily basis that this is not the end of the world. I totally agree that the BBC were wrong to portray MS as a condition that can be cured by pills. But in most cases it can be managed. And by managed i mean, no or little pain and reduction in rate and severity of relapses with DMD’s. Rant over.

Thanks for the link whammel.

Having now watched the piece, I wonder how much of what she actually said has been cut out! Having been the victim of the media doing this to me many years ago (not MS related) I know how this can completely change the context of what was said. If you take what she alone said there is nothing wrong with her view, she was only talking about the way she would feel if she were unable to work, nothing wrong with that.

I would however take issue with the rest of the article, implying that the long term sick “not just people with MS” are all malingerers and should not be signed of by the GP. Surely the GP’s and consultants are the best placed professionals to make these decisions.

Not spoiling for an argument just my thoughts.

Chris

A better question might be why they picked someone with MS who is still able to (seemingly) do a normal day’s work?

Note that they they did not pick someone with (say) Cerebral Palsy who would not be able to walk to the tea urn - and certainly not walk back carrying a ful cup.

MS is a handy disease to pick on because a few famous people have got it (or their relations have), and the lady in the story did illustrate that some people with a known serious disease can still work like normal people (whatever normal is).

True, the story did not do MS sufferers any favours, but as Val says - it was not about MS as a condition. The problem is that very few people outside of PwMS actually know what it can involve - and that is where the Society could do more. But think on this: if there are about 100,000 people in the UK with MS, why have only about 8000 filled in the questions for the MS Register? A second thought could be why the Society does not contact every neurologist and ask how many MS victims they are treatingm - and then disseminate the figures to the general public.

Geoff

morning everyone x

yes i saw it yesturday and i just see this lady who thankfully can work and is ok at the mo being used yet again by a disabled bashing media.

sadly now most people would have seen it and drawn to the conclusion that this is what everyone with ms is like and make all of us go back to work.

there was no mention of what ms is or how it can affect people or even that there are different types of ms and stages within that.

like someone else said in the thread its a degenerative condition.

why wont the media and the gov stop labelling us and thinking we should all go back to work. there was a time that the disabled were treated better than this…oh wait sorry im getting muddled with my dreams and reality again lol x

what happened to protecting the vunerable and disabled in our society?

besides all this talk of getting us back to work is nonsence there are hardly any jobs for young fit people or people who have lost jobs wake up england!

they should try to support the people disabled or not but esp disabled who are able to and want to work instead of causing damaging stress to all of us hear.

caz

p.s

and this outside agency being atos i presume oh great now we have even more to worry about.

they are not trained in these nurological conditions like ms or mnd ect they have even caused harm to people telling them they are fit for work when there not.

what is going on people im going back into my bubble now bye x

caz

your reply really touched me and said a lot of things that have been said to me in the past if only xx take care of your husband and yourself hes very lucky to have someone like you who cares just like i have a very caring husband xxx

I’d like to know what MS Society media team thinks about it. Where they approached by the producers of the broadcast to provide a spokesperson to comment? Will they write a complaint to the BBC? If the damage can’t be undone, by writing, the MS Society may ensure that in the future they are invited to provide comment and therefore more balanced view. I would have thought that this is one of the key aims why the Society exists, providing good quality information to journalists, online media and broadcasters. It is important that the Society engages in this way and promotes better understanding to the public what MS is.

The impression the programme gave was unbalanced and worrying given the context, ie. government’s efforts to reduce number of people claiming disability benefits.

I would love to express an opinion but unable to suss how this new site works!!!

This lady was not setting herself up as a model of how to have MS. She was just doing her best stay at work while she can. What’s wrong with that, for Goodness’ sake? Isn’t that what most of us did while we could still work (and what some of us still do?)

Those of us who can’t work any more (me included) need to remember that we are part of the MS picture, but it is not ALL about us!

Alison

Many people do continue to work with MS, especially in relapsing remitting. We must remember just how variable this condition can be. Most people don’t walk into the neuro a bitt off and instantly walk out disabled.

I was persuaded to stop working at a very high-paced job 20 years ago but I know from all the voluntary work and hours I have put in that I probably could have found more suitable employment during those years.

Well done to her and to all the people using this site who still work. They are not thumbing their noses at those of us who no longer can, they are just doing what is right for them. And to those like me who no longer can work - don’t make yourself bitter about it. We are doing what is right for us.

Liz

I agree with you and I’m so pleased t hat I’ve finally sussed this site out! I worked for years with this condition, fortunately I woked alone for a good few years and there was no one to see me drying my trousers and knickers on the radiator in my office!

Wendy

x

I watched this on the iplayer link someone posted - I found it very reassuring and helpful. Having been diagnosed 6 months ago, i have found it difficult to come to terms with the unpredictable future. Everywhere I look in the media people with MS are usually in wheelchairs and no longer working, or even talking about assisted suicide. On this site, there is a lot of discussion about functional impairment etc and little from those in earlier stages (obviously, the forum is for support and so is likely to have less input from those with less symptoms!). Even today at work someone was telling me about her friend with MS, who ‘you wouldn’t know to look at her’ and ‘she looks like a normal person’ (didn’t know I have MS, haven’t told work yet). All of this makes me contemplate when I’m going to have to give up work and live a different lifestyle (and I’ve only had a couple of episodes of sensory symptoms as yet!), given the likelihood that I will not be able to continue my career as it is (I am a doctor in a busy hospital specialty). Obviously MS is highly variable, unpredictable and individual. This girl wasn’t speaking for the MS population as a whole, simply for herself. Highlighting that adjustments from the employer and therefore being able to continue working is relevant to a significant proportion of people with MS - not all, obviously, but surely people need to be made aware of the individuality of everyone’s situation and not automatically make assumptions on mobility/ability to work/etc just because they have MS - and this programme showed one aspect of someone’s illness.