Latest news with #AwarenessMonth
CTV News
2 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Sudbury celebrates Deafblind Awareness Month with yarn bombing
Eight vibrant yarn displays are set up across Greater Sudbury as part of Deafblind Awareness Month. This year saw a new coin hunt featuring yarn-wrapped nickels with QR codes added to the festivities. Lyndsay Aelick has more.
CBS News
22-05-2025
- Health
- CBS News
"Light Your Town Teal" campaign hopes to shine light on Tourette syndrome in Philadelphia
The Ben Franklin Bridge and the Philadelphia skyline turned the color teal Tuesday night in recognition of Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month. The campaign called "Light Your Town Teal" is shining a light on the disorder. It's a movement disorder that can look strange to people who don't know what it is. People with Tourette syndrome are often bullied and face discrimination The teal lights and advocates are aiming to change that. Tara Lerman and Derick Valencik have Tourette syndrome, a tic disorder that causes involuntary movements or sounds. Lerman twitches her mouth and jaw, and Valenncik blinks a lot. When he was younger, Valencik said his brain told his body that he would move his shoulder four or five times repetitively. Lerman and Valencik were both diagnosed as children. They say they've endured a lifetime of bullying and people not understanding the disorder that can range from slight to severe. "I often get stares or people looking at me," Lerman said. "I'll get some laughs sometimes." The Tourette Association of America released a video showing different kinds of tics, saying that the neurodevelopmental disorder is usually diagnosed in children and affects about 1% of the population. "I can't control it, I can't help it. And just like any other kind of challenge or disability that someone has," Lerman said. "There's no cognitive disability that ties into it," Valencik said. "It's just like a motor and vocal thing that happens." To help raise awareness about Tourette syndrome, buildings are joining the "Light Your Town Teal" campaign. "I was almost crying to see the recognition," Valencik said. As the two look over the skyline that's lighting up for them, they're hoping for change. "To reframe how we're thinking about Tourette's and how we're defining it," Lerman said. "And knowing that it looks different for everyone who has it." Doctors say there are some drugs and interventions that can help, but not for everyone. "I think it's very important for people to understand we're just people, right? Like everyone else, and we just have these weird things that happen," Valencik said. In addition to raising awareness, advocates hope research can find better treatments, and maybe someday even a cure.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Day of Action on May 22 Highlights Need for Visibility of ALS
May is Awareness Month for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease WASHINGTON, May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of ALS Awareness Month, I AM ALS is rallying the nation on Thursday, May 22 for a Day of Action to shine a light on the devastating realities of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), amplify the voices of those affected, and galvanize Americans around our urgency for change. The theme "ALS is here, but so are we" invites advocates, families, and allies to share their powerful stories and take personal actions to build awareness, connection, and hope. Ways to Participate on May 22: Submit an Op-Ed: Use I AM ALS's easy-to-use op-ed template and guidance to submit your story to your local/regional media outlets. Amplify on Social Media: Change your profile photo to the campaign image, and post your story, photos, or videos using the hashtags #ALSisHere and #SoAmI. Tag @iamalsorg to help spread the message even further. Tell Your Story: Share how ALS impacts your life—focus on one real, raw, and resonant aspect. Encourage friends and family to do the same. Educate Your Community: Spread key facts using these graphics about ALS to raise awareness. Support the Cause: Encourage donations to and promote I AM ALS' Congressional funding priorities. Be Bold: Whether it's dyeing your hair blue or hosting a local film screening (learn more about how to host a screening of "For Love & Life" here), creative and courageous acts are welcome and celebrated. "On May 22, we're asking people everywhere to stand with us, speak out, and show up," said Andrea Goodman, CEO of I AM ALS. "ALS is here, but so are we. We are storytellers, visionaries, advocates, and dreamers—and we're not going anywhere. This Day of Action is about community, truth-telling, and visibility." ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive and 100% fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells (neurons) in the brain and spinal cord, leading to muscle weakness, paralysis, and eventually death. Approximately 6,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS every year. It is projected that the number of ALS cases worldwide could increase by almost 70% by 2040 (source). About I AM ALSI AM ALS is a nonprofit organization leading what STAT News called the most successful patient advocacy campaign this century. We built a community movement to harness collective power and find treatments and a cure for ALS faster, while also creating lasting, systemic change. Our focus is on three areas: Advocating for federal policy change to drive research, support, and treatments for ALS. Improving quality of life by providing volunteer and support opportunities to advocates and people living with ALS. Mobilizing and empowering advocates to raise awareness about ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases, and increase visibility of the ALS experience. Learn more at View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE I AM ALS Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Malaysian Reserve
20-05-2025
- Health
- Malaysian Reserve
Day of Action on May 22 Highlights Need for Visibility of ALS
May is Awareness Month for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease WASHINGTON, May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — In honor of ALS Awareness Month, I AM ALS is rallying the nation on Thursday, May 22 for a Day of Action to shine a light on the devastating realities of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), amplify the voices of those affected, and galvanize Americans around our urgency for change. The theme 'ALS is here, but so are we' invites advocates, families, and allies to share their powerful stories and take personal actions to build awareness, connection, and hope. Ways to Participate on May 22: Submit an Op-Ed: Use I AM ALS's easy-to-use op-ed template and guidance to submit your story to your local/regional media outlets. Amplify on Social Media: Change your profile photo to the campaign image, and post your story, photos, or videos using the hashtags #ALSisHere and #SoAmI. Tag @iamalsorg to help spread the message even further. Tell Your Story: Share how ALS impacts your life—focus on one real, raw, and resonant aspect. Encourage friends and family to do the same. Educate Your Community: Spread key facts using these graphics about ALS to raise awareness. Support the Cause: Encourage donations to and promote I AM ALS' Congressional funding priorities. Be Bold: Whether it's dyeing your hair blue or hosting a local film screening (learn more about how to host a screening of 'For Love & Life' here), creative and courageous acts are welcome and celebrated. 'On May 22, we're asking people everywhere to stand with us, speak out, and show up,' said Andrea Goodman, CEO of I AM ALS. 'ALS is here, but so are we. We are storytellers, visionaries, advocates, and dreamers—and we're not going anywhere. This Day of Action is about community, truth-telling, and visibility.' ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive and 100% fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells (neurons) in the brain and spinal cord, leading to muscle weakness, paralysis, and eventually death. Approximately 6,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS every year. It is projected that the number of ALS cases worldwide could increase by almost 70% by 2040 (source). About I AM ALSI AM ALS is a nonprofit organization leading what STAT News called the most successful patient advocacy campaign this century. We built a community movement to harness collective power and find treatments and a cure for ALS faster, while also creating lasting, systemic change. Our focus is on three areas: Advocating for federal policy change to drive research, support, and treatments for ALS. Improving quality of life by providing volunteer and support opportunities to advocates and people living with ALS. Mobilizing and empowering advocates to raise awareness about ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases, and increase visibility of the ALS experience. Learn more at
WebMD
13-05-2025
- Health
- WebMD
The True Story of the Mental and Emotional Health of Survivorship
May marks Mental Health Awareness Month, and for many of us living in the aftermath of breast cancer, it brings a quiet invitation to look inward – beyond the scars, the statistics, and the survival stories – into the less-visible terrain: our mental and emotional healing. Survivorship is often misunderstood. From the outside, it might seem like the "hard part" is over. But surviving breast cancer is not a clean endpoint. It's a continued, evolving process of facing what is – and grieving what isn't. The truth is, survivorship is messy. It is confusing. It's full of contradictory emotions: relief and resentment, gratitude and grief, hope and fear. It's grieving the body we once had, the future we thought we were building, the safety of our bodies, and the certainty that once grounded us. And all of that is normal. What I've come to understand – both professionally as a mental health provider and personally as someone living this – is that processing emotions isn't about fixing ourselves. It's about building capacity. When we allow ourselves to feel grief, anger, guilt, and uncertainty, we are not failing at healing – we are actively participating in the human experience of it. Too often, especially in cancer spaces, we are praised for being positive, strong, and 'fighting' with grace. But the external and internal expectation to be endlessly resilient can create shame when the harder emotions inevitably show their faces. We need to normalize the full emotional experience of survivorship. We need to say: Feeling is not weakness. It is a human experience. We don't process our emotions to make them disappear. We process to understand. We make space for them. We feel them to reclaim our humanity. That is what builds resilience – not emotional perfection, but emotional presence. This month, I've been reflecting on what it means to truly care for our mental health after cancer. It's not a single breakthrough moment. It's building a toolbox – one coping skill at a time. For me, that's meant: And maybe most importantly: letting go of the idea that I have to 'move on' from what changed me. Healing doesn't mean erasing what happened. It means integrating it, day by day, in a way that honors where you've been and who you're still becoming. So to my fellow survivors – and to anyone sitting with hard feelings this month – I offer this: You are not broken because you're still grieving. You are not weak because you still worry. You are not behind because healing doesn't look linear. Real progress isn't the absence of feeling – it's the willingness to be with yourself, fully, even when it hurts. This is how we rebuild. This is how we rise – not by denying our pain, but by holding it gently. Let May be a reminder: Your mental health matters in survivorship, not just in treatment. Your emotions are not problems to solve – they are evidence that you're alive, still in it, and still moving forward.
