One late July evening, Dan and I sat together busily typing letters to our U.S. Senators’ and Congressmans’ offices.
We were making requests to schedule meetings with them during their August recess – the time when federal legislators leave Washington, D.C., and return to their home districts for a fast-paced schedule of constituent meetings, town halls, and other community events.
We want to discuss with them legislation relating to Pharmacy Benefit Manager reform.
That’s where Dan and I are fortunate, I guess?, that our advocacy issues are our everyday realities. We live with Multiple Sclerosis, and we want our legislators to understand and address our concerns.
Yes, we are bringing this up in August, but the truth is advocacy really knows no season.
It always is the right time to share your story and increase awareness about the issues that matter most to you. I understand that being an advocate can seem overwhelming… at first.
Let me reassure you: all you need to be an MS advocate is your story.
To learn more about what I’m saying and to see how easy it is to become an MS advocate, I encourage you to read my recent multiplesclerosis.net essay If You Have MS, You Have a Story to Change Lives.
In this essay, I give insights into how you can become an MS advocate/activist, how empowering these efforts are, and what issue led Dan and me to become activists in the first place.
I explain:
“We saw how our stories made an impact that day. This is why we continue to share the realities of our life as a married couple who are living with multiple sclerosis – me, a woman living with secondary-progressive MS, and my husband, Dan, who is living with relapsing-remitting MS. There are so many stories we have to share and so many lives we can help to change.”
Check out my essay and see why advocacy knows now season and how your story is all you need to make a difference.