MS & Me

Dear Niall,

Eight years ago I held your hand on a still May morning as we set off on our third Darkness into Light walk for Pieta House, a charity that we both owe a lot to. I knew our whole world was about to change. After three weeks in hospital the previous October, having undergone every test and multiple lumbar punctures, the threat of those two words clung to everything - Multiple Sclerosis.

Last week (Part I) Rosie Farrell wrote about changing how we view and talk about disability to bring change & acceptance as part of someone’s life experience. This acceptance is part of creating personal, societal and systemic change so accessibility & equality become basic standards in Irish society. Read on for Part II: Why are you still blocking our way to equality

My disability is not a tragedy and I am not a burden. I am not to be pitied and most of all I am not an inspiration just because I live with MS.

My MS and disability is just one part of who I am. It is part of my identity, just like gender, sexuality, race or religion may be part of yours. Yet society rarely sees it that way. And for a very long time I did not see it that way either.

The paints dance across the page, running into each other in ways you hadn’t planned but looking all the more beautiful for it.

It’s like an analogy for life really. No matter what way you plan, life will do its own thing but that doesn’t mean it’ll be any less beautiful and worthwhile

Buying a house is stressful at the best of times but when you live with a disability it’s a whole other ball game.