REAL PEOPLE
REAL ME
What is the Real ME Campaign?
We want people to know that this life-changing condition is indiscriminate and is diagnosed in men, women, and children of all ages and ethnicities. ME/CFS can affect individuals differently and many experience a myriad of debilitating symptoms that can fluctuate erratically in relation to any mental or physical activity. This often means that people succumb to periods of worsening symptoms that can last for an inordinate amount of time.
“We want to tell the world about the Real People that suffer because of this Real Disease – day after day, week after week, year after year, and in some of the cruellest cases, decade after painful decade…”
Neil Riley, Chairman, ME Association.
How can I get involved?
- Please note that by taking part in this campaign you would be giving us permission to use your images to help us raise awareness about ME/CFS either online – the MEA website and MEA social media – or in print in ME Essential or ME Medical magazines and in any of the literature we produce.
- If we decide to use your photograph with or without quotes taken from your story, you will remain anonymous – but you should be aware that once a photo has been posted on the internet anyone else can copy and repost it.
- If we want to use your image and/or story in a pitch made to a newspaper or online media outlet, or if a media organisation approaches us for your story, then we will seek your permission via email before we take any further action.
The response so far
The ME Association has been delighted with the amazing response and support that The Real M.E. campaign has received. We have amassed a library of over 500 images since we launched the campaign back in 2018.
We know the importance of accurately representing the community and we will now be displaying a range of new images on the website in galleries. Visitors will see how ME/CFS can affect people from all walks of life and read a quote describing the impact this awful disease has had on them.
We will continue to use to use Real M.E. images in our literature, social media, awareness campaigns and in ME Essential and ME Medical magazines, and we will encourage the news-media to use Real M.E. images wherever possible instead of relying on the often unrepresentative ‘stock images'.
