'Coming clean' about disability.

The article "Empowering those' with disabilities" by Pauline Yorke, published in the February issue of Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand (p18), prompted me to wonder how many "well" and functioning nurses themselves have disabilities.

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) five years ago. I use Avonex injected intramuscularly once a week with great success, despite the headaches and nausea that occur for 24 hours afterwards, for which I use Brufen and Maxalon. I was recently awarded the Esme Tombleson MS Person of the Year in a grand ceremony in Wellington. This was a great honour, especially as I don't consider myself anything other than average, but the selection panel saw my nursing, my work assisting others with MS and being New Zealand's top amateur western pleasure rider as being "inspirational".

I work full-time as a practice nurse in New Plymouth. I have a wonderful neurologist and support staff, as well as a supportive and understanding GP. I hear stories of other nurses diagnosed with MS who are too afraid to tell their employers or workmates, despite the fact their symptoms don't affect their ability to practise safely. This seems sad to me. MS is not a death sentence, as so many believe.

It would be interesting to canvass how many nurses are out there working alongside their (dis)abilities. I often get called on by our local MS support worker to speak to newly diagnosed MS sufferers and an inordinate number with the disease are nurses. Perhaps my story can help others to "come clean" and let those around them help them, without pity. Nursing, although regarded as a "caring" vocation, can often be a profession lacking compassion among its practitioners. Just because we are nurses does not make us immune to illness, yet we seem reticent to discuss our illnesses openly and accept help when needed. Sometimes the (dis)abled nurse the disabled!

Jeanette Robins, RN, Adv Cert Dual Diag, Stratford