The Mask of Multiple Sclerosis

Once people know you have multiple sclerosis it is as if you are wearing a mask. That MS mask is the first thing many will see as you walk, limp, or roll into a room. Few will ask you to remove the mask. Many don’t care what waits behind it. It can feel like a masquerade party that you can’t leave and that will never end.

While we are basically that which others see, unable to ever see the whole of ourselves except through a mirror, the person before them can allow the gazer’s definition of us to be the only reality. We do have a choice though.

Not a huge Batman fan here, though I saw the first Keaton-Batman movie many times (I digress), but Batman’s mask put more pressure on him than he could handle; hence, the “Dark Knight.” If only he had ripped it off and allowed people to see that he was just an ordinary, albeit rich, man like any other; then he would have received understanding and compassion for his true self.

Some people with MS wear a mask to hide the fact that they have MS. No physical differences betray them and they find comfort in the mask. Like the vulnerable Superman, who, without his Clark Kent glasses might find a kryptonite paperweight on his desk one day. He would most certainly be out of a job!

Those examples are comic book stories. People with multiple sclerosis need wear no mask. Once you do, it may be very hard to remove.