Hi I’m on the committee at my local ms society.At the age of 40 I am the youngest member of our society.we as a group have tried many times to attract younger members to join the ms society but have had not had any success even though we now there are plenty of younger people in my area with ms.My thought is its because they are young they are in denial of there ms as this is how I was when I was diagnosed at 19. I was just wondering if anybody had any ideas on how we could attract younger people with ms to join up to our ms group.Thanks
Maybe place notices in libraries, sports halls, swimming pools…dare I say… pubs? Perhaps also send letters to senior schools/colleges
pollx
Pubs is a good idea, Poll! Meeting up down the pub, or some other social venue would probably be more acceptable for the younger people, too.
Daz,
I’m on the committee of my local branch and attracting younger members seems to be a recurring problem. I’m 51 but once upon a time I was a younger person with MS and I have to say that as a younger person, I wanted nothing at all to do with the MS Society. Even though I had MS, I was still pretty healthy and I didn’t want to be associated with the Society as I had the impression that the Society was just for old people in wheelchairs and I didn’t want a reminder that that could me as I got older.
We’ve various events and have had mixed results in attracting younger people.
good luck though. IT will be interesting to see if anyone has the answer to this problem.
derek
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Hello Daz,
How are yer?
I was dx when I was 24. It was some weird shit that was going on as I was living my life. Occasionally I’d lose a limb, or my balance, or have a killer headache. I’d just adapt, stick my head in the sand, turn the volume up on my walkman. If something hurt, I wouldn’t do it - advice from Morcombe and Wise… I didn’t want to think about it… I was immortal.
Getting on, well those views change as we all know. Things go wrong, new challenges are laid down.
I guess it’s the ‘cool’ factor too. At 19 - 25, you don’t want to hang around with 40+ year olds. They’re ancient man, what do they have in common with me ? Around 30 ish, or when this lovely gig reminds you you’re not immortal, you pull your head out of your butt, and either give in or seek help. The pub is as good a place to start. Maybe student nights at a local night club, though the emphasis is on getting drunk/laid, so how many will be listening is debatable. The 20 year old I work with is GLUED to his phone (mostly tinder and the like), but can you set something up on that? Twitter and the like ? It’s not my media, but…
Where abouts are you?
Take care
Andy
(Sorry if I rehashed points, i started this about three quarters of an hour ago and have dinner, chased my two year about…a work in progress…)
We have a younger group in Oxford called MSsy set up by Jo when she wanted to meet people her age. It’s very successful and she’s won awards for her work. We meet in pubs and restaurants in the evenings, go bowling, been to comedy club and have weekend pub lunches to include the families. It is sometimes hard to get new members to come along but there’s support if they need it in person, on email and Facebook
Daz, there’s a thread on Caring for ms bods about Dudley young m s bods, by Jazz. Nice. Maybe you can put your heads together and have a mardle…???
Hi carraboy, I live in Rochdale lancs.i understand what your saying as I was exactly the same I was diagnosed at 19 and you could say I was in denial up until 2 years ago when things got worse and it was only through my sister that I contacted the ms society, as my dad had ms and towards the end he just sat in his flat and wouldn’t go anywhere so my sister said dnt you end up like dad get in touch with others with ms so I did but like I said at my local ms branch I’m the youngest at 40 lol
I’m 26, male and have MS.
I’m also the admin for my regional MS Society facebook page and a volunteer for MS Society.
I think social media is the best way to get younger people involved, but it’s a slow process and there’s no easy answer.
I was dx at 44, about 1 & 1/2 years ago. I do things that would interest young folk, but then the older generation seem to want all the attention & the younger ones miss out. I would say age restrictions should be considered whatever event is planned. Not many 40/50 year olds or older are open minded about sound technology. I’ve been thinking a lot about this stuff lately, but I’m still getting used to my dx & losing my driving licence due to MS issues. Personally the prospect of being in a wheelchair quite soon doesn’t help either. It’s all a lot for me to take in & that goes for the others it effects too. I disagree with pubs as meeting places for MS events. Medication & alcohol don’t mix well. Outdoor events with nature is more for all age groups. The events the MS Society do already are successful. T-Shirt design, Art & other creative events are good options. They can run in schools, youth clubs & so on. It’s all a learning curve.
Hi puddle. Every Tuesday and Thursday we run a class at my local gym for ms’ers and even the gym instructed has told me that there’s plenty of young ones that go to the gym that have ms but are all in denial. So just dnt know what to do if there not ready to accept that they have this horrible disease.