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Raise Awareness

Every connection counts when it comes to increasing awareness and support of our cause.

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Awareness – Together We Are Stronger

Multiple sclerosis and the MS movement – everyone engaged in addressing the challenges of MS today while moving toward long-term solutions for tomorrow – become better known each year. But more must be done. Together we are stronger when it comes to increasing awareness and support for our cause.

MS Awareness Week 2016

For MS Awareness Week 2016, March 7-13, people in the MS movement will lead the effort by sharing the solutions and experiences they’ve uncovered to live their best lives, and inspiring others to become more powerful than the challenges of MS.

MS Awareness Week 2015

The Power of the MS Community

The MSconnection.org online community was a focal point in 2015 – both for people already engaged there and those not yet engaged. During this week alone, more than 33,000 visitors representing 133 countries visited the community and nearly 600 new members joined.

Making and Sharing Connections

Thousands of people created, shared and had conversations about personalized connection images that convey the diversity, determination and passion of their connection to the MS movement. See a few of our favorites in our Facebook album, or browse them all and create your own at MSconnection.org. You can share your own image with your network on social media.

Media Coverage

During MS Awareness Week we garnered highly visible media coverage across the country, securing coverage in Times Square in New York City, on the TODAY show and hundreds of additional print, radio, television and online promotions and stories around the country to share the stories of the MS movement.

Social Media

Coordinated social media efforts leveraging the power and passion of people who care about MS resulted in a huge social media impact during MS Awareness Week 2015. In just one week, three million people viewed MS-related posts and more than 25,000 people shared these posts with their own networks. More than a million people viewed videos shared on social media and 200,000 people engaged directly in the conversation on social media.

Ambassadors Creating Awareness

For MS Awareness Week 2015, the MS movement received celebrity shout outs from personalities like Alessandra Ambrosio, Courtney Galiano, Shemar Moore, Julie Roberts, Lauren Bedford Roberts, Robin Roberts and Noah “40” Shebib – all of whom extended awareness through their networks. Hundreds of other influential individuals – from sports stars to media personalities to online bloggers – in communities around the country pitched in too!

Alessandro Ambrosio

Community Impact

A multitude of activities took place in hundreds of communities across the country during MS Awareness Week 2015. Some of the most visible efforts included lighting up – in orange, of course – buildings and bridges in places like Cleveland, Chicago and Boston; live news coverage and other media coverage, social media campaigns supporting awareness activities; and lots of in-person community activities like programs for people with MS, Walks MS fundraising events, and other opportunities to educate and create awareness.

World MS Day is May 25, 2016

World MS Day unites MS organizations globally and raises awareness of multiple sclerosis and those living with MS to improve public understanding and support that will move us closer a world free of MS. For World MS Day 2016 we’re recognizing all the ways that people affected by MS maintain independence and get on with their lives.

The 2015 World MS Day campaign was focused on finding positive ways to celebrate both the big and small things that people and organizations have done that help to make life less difficult for people affected by MS – things like:

  • Individuals, groups and organizations that help improve access to health care, public spaces and buildings, accessible transportation, etc.
  • Policy makers who speak up for the interests of people affected by MS
  • People with MS who share their experiences , raise awareness and support others affected by the disease
  • Family, friends care partners who support people with MS each and every day
  • Employers who implement great workplace policies or make reasonable adjustments that enable people affected by MS to stay at work
  • People who fundraise for MS
  • Health care professionals

The idea was that by saying “thank you” and celebrating positive examples of change, we could encourage others to do more as well. To speak up more, to fundraise more and to make changes that remove barriers to access.

Stay tuned for more details about how you can take part in World MS Day 2016.

Help others learn about multiple sclerosis

Helping others better understand this complex and unpredictable disease is critical to fueling the progress that changes lives for people affected by MS and ultimately will end the disease forever.

You can view and share the videos below, and many other videos available on the Society’s YouTube channel, to help others better understand MS.

What Is MS?
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What Is MS?

This video shows what happens in the central nervous system when a person has multiple sclerosis.

MS Impacts Us All
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MS Impacts Us All

Creating awareness is something each of us is committed to -- and can act on today. By lending our individual voices, each and every one of us can lay the groundwork for the most viral MS awareness activity to date -- by simply sharing.

MS Connection PSA
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MS Connection PSA

Multiple sclerosis destroys connections. It disconnects the mind from the body and people from each other. Defy this disease with the very thing it seeks to destroy: connections. Every Connection Counts: why do you connect? www.MSconnection.org

NOW MS Research
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NOW MS Research

More than 20,000 researchers go to work to create a world free of MS every day. We can stop the disease in its tracks, restore what's been lost, and end this disease forever. Our commitment to people with MS isn't to just get it done, but to do it NOW.

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Opportunities in your community

For local opportunities to connect with others to raise awareness about MS, identify the area where you’d like to connect and find an opportunity that matches your passion.

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