Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic illness that affects the central nervous system. At age 11, my twin sister was diagnosed with MS and one common phrase heard is “Kids don’t get MS”. This mistaken perception motivated me to write a creative piece, a TV pilot that follows two 12 year olds at different stages of their MS diagnosis, coming into their identities in middle school. Much representation on TV is of adults with MS showing the worst possible outcome, believing death would be better than living with a chronic illness. Additionally, representation on TV of children with chronic illnesses often had tropes where the child had no agency or they somehow “overcame” it. This falls under ableism, or discrimination against people with disabilities. My approach included researching different forms of media depicting illnesses to see how the characters were portrayed and interviewing young people with MS, their families, MS advocates and physicians to get their input on MS representation. Through this process, I learned young people don’t want MS to be the whole identity of the characters’ portrayals and that ableist thoughts exist even among people connected to those with MS. The implication is to change perceptions about Kids and MS, there has to be realistic representations on TV of children/families navigating a MS diagnosis without ableism. This project is still ongoing as I want to continue talking to those with MS and sensitivity readers to avoid ableist ideas before the TV pilot can be produced.

Last modified

• 05/20/2024

Creator

• Ria Parker

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-79q7-4g42

Keyword

• Interviews
• Undergraduate Research Expo
• Creative Writing
• Surveys
• Creative Arts

Rights statement

• In Copyright