People with epilepsy have been dealing with stigma for centuries. This negativity has caused loss of jobs and relationships, hampered treatment, limited research funding, and has even brought about severe physical harm in some cases. In an effort to drive change, we will dedicate June to Epilepsy Stigma Awareness Month as we did last year.
The “Smiles to Fight Stigma” campaign is designed to tackle epilepsy stigma by showing the world our bright shiny smiles despite the impact stigma has had on each of our lives.
Throughout the month we will be accepting photos from people living with and affected by epilepsy. Using the form below, you are encouraged to submit a photo (like the ones above) of your beautiful smiling face.
To participate please use the form below to send in your photos along with a caption or note with 6 words on what epilepsy means to you.
Submit your pic
Be sure your picture:
- Is a large or high resolution picture (a photo from your phone is fine)
- Includes a caption
Deadline to Submit: June 25, 2014
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Thank you in advance for your smiley submissions.
Jessica Keenan Smith is a patient advocate and epilepsy community leader with more than 15 years of experience. As Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy and Executive Director of ASENT she bridges the gap between the scientific and patient communities, with a particular focus on the needs of the epilepsies. Jessica Keenan Smith is Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy, an award winning online resource for people affected by epilepsy to share stories and access in-depth information on the disease. Since 2009, Living Well With Epilepsy (https://livingwellwithepilepsy.com) has been featured in Forbes, Wired, NBC, NPR and the cover story of Epilepsy Advocate Magazine and has partnered with companies such as UCB, Lundbeck, Sunovion, Eisai, and more. Ms. Smith is also the Executive Director of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics (ASENT) (https://asent.org), an organization that brings together leaders from industry, academia, government and advocacy who are engaged in bringing drugs and devices to market across all neurologic disease states. In this role she is responsible for leading a successful scientific journal and annual scientific conference with speakers from all over the world.
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