“For me, MCS means having to wear a mask when I go out”
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MCS Awareness Month Guest Post from Laura J Mac
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity or MCS (also known as Environmental Sensitivities) is a chronic and disabling condition characterized by symptoms from low-level exposures to common chemicals. To put it simply, really common chemical exposures are disabling to some people, even in very small amounts.
ES has been recognized as a disability in Ontario since 2000, and federally (in Canada) since 2007, yet most people, and in fact many medical professionals, have never heard of it.
May is MCS Awareness Month, though I promise you, we are aware of it all year!
Instead of asking others to imagine something so unimaginable, we asked 1500 people with MCS to share what life is like with MCS. These memes are some of the responses.*
To see the whole Life with MCS – Shareable Memes album on facebook, click up there or HERE.
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*There are many more but: “For me, MCS means unpredictable wellness guarantees unpredictable productivity. I could do a lot more, of everything in life, if I wasn’t disabled by unavoidable chemical exposures.”
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One of the other really helpful things about this album are the info links Laura put together, and she said I could share here too
(apologies for the wonky formatting)
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Brief via MEAO (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Association of Ontario)
(Hyperlinks in this article are a wealth of information!)
Seriously “Sensitive” to Pollution on Facebook,
BUT WHAT CAN I DO???
Housing & independent living struggles with MCS
Application letter example:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160319143227/http://www.asehaqld.org.au/index.php/housing-application-letter
More detail
http://www.ilru.org/understanding-accommodating-people-with-multiple-chemical-sensitivity-independent-living
Attitudinal barriers
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Printable signs and brochures and posters, oh my!
EHS in brief
More detail
Firsthand accounts of the impacts/experience of MCS based on feedback from 1500 global survey participants
FM in brief
http://www.meao.ca/fibromyalgia.html
CFS/ME in brief
http://www.meao.ca/symptoms.html
FAQ – Scent Reduction
@Southlake Regional Health Centre
http://www.southlakeregional.org/Default.aspx?cid=1078&lang=1
Not just us, 1 in 3 people affected!
http://www.eha-ab.ca/acfp/docs/GreenHealthCareGuide.pdf
Wait, what’s in there?!!??
http://www.womensvoices.org/2015/12/10/toxic-chemicals-found-in-fragrance/
For parents, and everyone else
http://www.babycenter.ca/a1017837/phthalates-what-you-need-to-know
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Fragrance-Free How To:
May 26, 2016 is Fragrance-Free Day
Use these hashtags to find more info on Facebook and Twitter
#MCS #MultipleChemicalSensitivity
#MCSAwarenessMonth #MAY12
#EHS #Electrohypersensitivity
#ES #EnvironmentalSensitivity
#EI #EnvironmentalIllness
#ForMeMCSmeans
#FF #FragranceFree
#IAQ #IndoorAirQuality
#VOC #VolatileOrganicCompounds
#ME #CFS #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #ChronicFatigueSyndrome
#FM #Fibromyalgia
#ChronicIllness
#InvisibleIllness
#ButYouDontLookSick
#Spoons #SpoonTheory
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Please take action in whatever way you can to ensure we ALL have the right to a healthy environment, and so industries are stopped from polluting us for profit.
also, please
Be fragrance-free. It’s good for you, it’s good for me.
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P.S. I have no control over the ads or the RELATED posts shown below.
Seriously "Sensitive" to Pollution 
I really appreciate that MCS and Lyme Awareness months are both in May. So fitting!
Yes… and I can’t wait until everyone is aware!
I just remembered that wordpress comments (sometimes) give previews of fb memes now, so hopefully this will show a few of them before you head over there. So many experiences are shared in these, and most of us relate to most of them!
Sadly, the album doesn’t show, but individual images will