I am joining the disability march because after living with Multiple Sclerosis for 30 years I am now a freelance writer and health advocate helping others manage their journey of living with disease and disability. Our community are citizens who deserve the same rights, dignity and respect that all other citizens enjoy. We deserve healthcare to help defray the cost of expensive doctor and hospital visits and also necessary medications and therapies. We are Americans who vote, pay taxes, work hard at jobs, raise our families and are law-abiding citizens. We are outraged at the portrayal of the disabled by the president-elect. We are outraged at the platforms he and his cabinet choices voice about healthcare that will turn back the clocks to a time when we were treated as subpar citizens.

I am a graduate of Boston College and University of Miami’s Patient Advocacy program. I write for MultipleSclerosis.net, Multiple Sclerosis News Today (12/2016), am official blogger for Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers, and my own blogAnEmpoweredSpirit.com.