Did you know 1/10 Americans are currently suffering from a rare disease? Many are still striving for the diagnosis in the first place. According to NIH, there are more than 7,000 rare diseases, some even without names yet. Unfortunately as many of you know there are many barriers to living/getting diagnosed with a rare disease. It costs substantially more in the process of diagnosing and treating a rare disease. Many doctors are taught to think “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras”, not acknowledging that the zebras are not rare themselves, the ailments are. Since there are so many rare diseases, not enough funding is allocated on how to recognise and treat each illness.

What can you do as someone with a rare disease/or to support people with rare diseases? Advocate, advocate, advocate - Whether this is sharing informative post or lobbying to your politicians, any awareness of rare diseases is important to highlight the struggles and barriers of living with one. Donate if you can to funding nonprofits for research into these conditions if you can! If you think you have a rare disease, or need resources the NORD database is linked in this post. I’d like to acknowledge how strong our people here in this subreddit are for living with rare diseases on this day, you are so loved and valued.