My boss appears to have forgotten I have ms. Wish I had. Got a phone call to say someone collecting a chest of drawers from first floor and I’m down as the one helping carry it. So what doesn’t my boss understand about balance problems. Walking problems and problems with hands and grip. If I say anything its like a sign of weakness where I’m told if I can’t cope … I’m sure people just expect me to get better. If only it was that simple.
Maybe you need to show your boss that there is no way that you can lift a chest of drawers - he/she will realise very quickly when you can’t do it - and there are other more able bodied workers who could do it. If, like me, you have carried on working and doing things because you are worried that you’ll get the “if you can’t cope” speech. Believe me if you were to drop dead whilst putting yourself at risk to try and acheive something you know you can’t do, they would be quick enough to step over you to get someone else to do it! I know exactly how you feel, but like others have said on this site please don’t knock yourself out - lif, in any form is short!!
Don’t ever feel bad about saying no. Just tell them you can’t possibly help to carry the furniture downstairs. You shouldn’t have to explain yourself so I wouldn’t bother. If they then ask you can then politely remind them about your health problems and laugh it off with something like 'It’s nice to know that I look so well that you can forget about my problems! I’ll take that as a compliment". That might help to diffuse the situation.
I’m afraid I do still feel guilty about being absent from work on so many occasions but I never feel bad about asking for help or saying no to things that I know are going to cause me pain or discomfort later on. Let’s face it, lots of our difficulties are invisible so we can’t expect other people to remember always and sometimes we have to look after Number 1.
Tracey xx
Tongue in cheek - Elf and Safety here. Have you got the bit of paper that says you are trained in manual handling? I am sure they just have no idea of the effect MS has even if they have been told a thousand times. Time to gently remind them that helping out would possibly result in a claim against their insurance company when you land at the bottom of the stairs with a chest of drawers on top of you. Please as Tracey says tactfully tell them you are not being difficult it is just that MS just does not allow you to do certain things however well you look on the outside.
This gets me really angry!! Tactfully respond? Are they being tactful asking you to do this in the 1st place, or suggesting that if you say no it’s a weakness?? No!! Maybe you should tactfully suggest becoming part of a union, (if you aren’t already!) and suggesting a referral to oc health so that your employer has it in black and white that there are some tasks that you just cannot do!! Maybe a reminder about disability discrimination also wouldn’t go a miss! Good Luck! 
Completely understand your problem! As stupid as it sounds my boss asked me to carry the xmas upstairs after xmas! I felt like saying thats fine you get the one with ms to walk backwards up the stairs with an awkward box! Iv had to move boxes and furniture, go out driving and delivering things to clients (this would be ok if i didnt pee 5 million times an hour) My nurse thinks work are trying to get me to quit but if they want rid they will have to sack me!! Xx
If your boss is being genuinely difficult then by all means, go in with guns blazing. However, I took the OP to be saying that they had forgotten that they had MS so a gentle reminder was needed. The thing is if you want to stay working there then isn’t it better to do so with a calm atmosphere rather than a ‘war zone’ atmosphere which just brings more stress?
Believe me, I have experienced both sides of this. I tried to be reasonable with my line manager but when we finally hit rock bottom and had a couple of major fallouts (she still bears a grudge to this day, ha ha!), I asked to be moved sideways to a different department as it became intolerable to work with her as my manager. There was no way she was ever going to give me a fair hearing after I had caught her out with discrimination and she had been told by her superiors she couldn’t do that. It didn’t put an end to the nastiness - she just found other ways to be mean and insufferable!
Tracey xx