World MS Day 2013

In May 2013, six young people shared the mottos that give them strength. We also asked visitors to the World MS day website to share their own mottos for life around three themes: identity, relationships and the future.

Young people and MS

The 2013 campaign focused on young people. At a time when young people may be starting new careers, relationships and making plans for the future, being diagnosed with a chronic and potentially disabling disease like MS can lead them to re-evaluate their lives.

What’s your motto?

The campaign ran from 8 May across digital channels and social media including YouTube, the World MS Day website and blog, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

Activities were organised by MS organisations and groups across the world and ranged from public awareness and fundraising initiatives to parties for people with MS and high level meetings with key decision makers.

We asked visitors to the website to share the mottos that give them strength.

Highlights:

• In India, the Bengaluru Chapter organised an MS Walk, attended by 150 people, and the Indore Chapter celebrated WMSD with live music, while MSSI Mumbai held a special event for young people with MS and organised a bike rally. The New Delhi Chapter hosted a medical panel, and a human chain marked the day in Hyderabad.
• In Ireland, MS Ireland held a motto reading event in Dublin, hosted by Senator David Norris. Norris’s motto was ‘Judge not another until you have stood in his shoes’. Senator Norris was joined by comedian Fred Cooke and person with MS Emma Rogan to read Irish mottos supplied by people with MS, friends, celebs and sports stars.
• More than 4,400 mottos were submitted to the World MS Day website, double the number of postcard submissions in 2012
• World MS Day reached more than 305,102 people on Facebook in May 2013, a 686 per cent increase from the May 2012 figure of 38,810
• On Twitter, the campaign reached more than 3.5 million people through 11.1 million impressions.