www.whatcanyoudocampaign.org
This website focuses on employment and disability.



For someone with MS, once the diagnosis is made and the fear and anger has calmed down, the links that appear on the homepage of this website look like they will help a reader remain at work. So far, so good. Expectations are made. The message – and no doubt it is true – is that you have to do it by trying.

A headline on the site for employers leads you to a pep talk about equality for all at the workplace, using and respecting the skills of people with disability or dysfunctional behaviour. Unfortunately though, there is, in my opinion, no employer who will act upon reading this page. The few case stories are not convincing. For a deeper analysis about the reality of employing disabled people, there is very little.

A link for employees leads you to some terrific sentences and expressions about the importance of work in life and in combination with disability. But an ambitious person with MS who is keen to work will realise, after a few interviews, that more needs to be done to get success in the labour scene.
Other pages and links discuss the need to educate professionals and society in general, but again the text is stimulating but no practical answers are given.

This is a USA site and is not particularly useful worldwide. Many countries in western Europe have a caring, super-regulated society where disabled or chronically ill people get benefi ts, and adaptations can be made to their workplace or way of working.

The website also discusses the need to have a change of attitude in society about employment and disability. It says that this change and a “you can do it” attitude are likely to lead to employment.

However, for many people I believe that this website does not give a realistic view.

Reviewed by Guy De Vos, Belgium MS Society

Women, Work, and Autoimmune Disease – Keep Working Girlfriend!

Authors: Rosaline Joffe and Joan Friedlander.
Publisher: Demos, 2008,
ISBN-10: 1932603689,
ISBN-13: 978-1932603682

Women, Work, and Autoimmune Disease is a book about how we have to keep our hope and our struggle for life, and how to enjoy living with an unwanted and incurable disease.

If your doctor tells you that you have an autoimmune disease (AD) which is incurable and may sometimes stop you from taking part in several life activities, such as your working life, how will you feel? Maybe sad, angry, frustrated and like “that’s it, it is the end of my career!” These are normal reactions upon hearing this news but sometimes these reactions are exaggerated.

Throughout the book Rosalind Joffe and Joan Friedlander use simple but convincing words to tell us that a person with an AD such as MS, can also have a good job and be a successful career woman.

The authors are themselves people with ADs, and along with inspiring stories from other women with ADs, they give us ideas and advice about what you can do to enjoy life and your career while managing an incurable disease. Topics include developing appropriate strategies and tactics, evaluating communication skills, building a support team and considerations for self-employment.

So, if you or one of your family members has an AD, before thinking of quitting your job and feeling sad about it, read this book and fi nd out how living with an AD can be enjoyable and manageable, and how particular strategies and tactics can help you to be a successful career woman. Keep working, girlfriend!

Reviewed by Kanya Puspokusumo, President of Indonesia Multiple Sclerosis Group and MSIF Board Member