Rare Diseases – Now real people can get them
As an advertisement for ‘Rare Disease Day’ flashed up on my screen this morning, I thought to myself, ‘Good lads, someone needs to help those poor, third-world wretches’. I was about to click the ‘skip ad’ button until my eye caught something which seemed a bit off. At first, I couldn’t put my finger on it and then it hit me – the skin colour of the girl in the picture. She was definitely whiter than I would have expected. Her eyes were blue, she had blonde hair, and pale, almost translucent skin – let’s face it, she was a white girl. Caucasian. From the developed world. Possibly even American, or at least European, northern European. I assumed someone was taking a few liberties with the artistic license, but something was still bothering me. Why would they want to scare real people with this? Surely they’ll just end up marginalising themselves. So I decided to click into it and do some investigating. I thought, the least I could do is tell them to fire their advertising manager.
However, my shock turned to bigger shock when I investigated the site further, and then other sites to make sure it wasn’t a scam. Now brace yourselves, but apparently, we are in danger of getting these diseases. They affect white people too. There are six thousand diseases which affect 25 million people in America (Actual America) and 30 million people in Europe. People like you and me (well I don’t have anything, I’m clean), but people like you at least. And apparently 20% of that 6000 are infectious – so that’s 10% would be 600, times two is 1200 – 1200 infectious diseases around the world, including the real world, where we live. Should this not be a bigger thing? Every time I shake a whitey’s hand I could be catching Histiocytic Necrotizing Lymphadenitis; I’ll have to rethink my rule. I’d hate to have a disease I couldn’t pronounce, I’ll end up telling people I have AIDS, just to save myself the embarrassment of trying to say the other one.
Rare Disease Day is on the last day of February every year, so that was the 29th this year, although last year for some reason it was on the 28th February, who knows when it will be next year, the 32nd? It might be worth your while checking it out because as their slogan should read, but doesn’t, ‘Rare Diseases – now real people can get them.’
