Sometimes seeing is believing. Last week, Selma Blair gave us the opportunity to do both. On February 24, 2019, armed with a custom cane topped by patent leather and a pink diamond, and wearing a cape that billowed behind her like a superhero’s, Selma Blair made her first public appearance since revealing her MS diagnosis at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills. In that moment, she made the world a bit larger for all of us living with multiple sclerosis.
With MS Awareness Week beginning on March 10th and it being International Women’s Day today, it feels like the perfect time to highlight the importance of what may seem to some as just a few passing minutes on the red carpet. Women living with MS understand that it was SO much more than that.
I’ve been living with MS since 2001 and also experience the daily challenges of living with physical disability. As a life coach and founder of Rockstar Women with MS, I challenge and help women living with MS to feel beautiful and confident. When they work with me, they can walk into a room full of celebrities and still feel confident and SEEN. That is my ultimate hope for all women living with MS.
Selma Blair has been candid on social media and in her interview with Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts about the physical challenges she faces and her experiences with disability. Still, she perseveres. Discouraged by mobility difficulties and often embarrassment about using mobility aids, many women living with MS end up living smaller lives that can make them feel “less-than” and invisible. Seeing Blair’s appearance in front of the cameras in a fabulous gown with her cane to help her walk opens us all up to a completely different possibility.
I raise both of my leopard print canes to you, Selma, to applaud and thank you for what you’re doing. Not only are you helping to bring national attention and awareness to multiple sclerosis, you’re also changing people’s lives just by sharing your journey. As Millicent Fawcett once said, “Courage calls to courage everywhere.” Selma, because of your courage, women with MS are standing and sitting a bit taller, and seeing our possibilities expand right before our eyes.
