I want to make a bet with you.
I bet you can't tell me what amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is.
Give up? Lets try again.
I bet you know what the ice bucket challenge is. I also bet that many of you took a video of yourself dumping a bucket of freezing water on your head.
I must confess, that I too, hopped on the bandwagon of pouring frigid water over myself. At the time I don't really think my middle school self knew why I was doing it, all I knew was that everyone else was. I soon realized that the purpose of this trend was to raise awareness and money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gherig's disease. But did everyone else partaking in this trend know that too? Did any of the kids in my middle school really know what ALS was; and that you were suppose to donate to the ALS fund upon doing the challenge? Or were they just hopping on the bandwagon like me?
Flash back to my fifth grade days. I remember vaguely attending a family party with tons of people. Little me was super excited to be getting out of the house and meeting up with my cousins. Once again misinformed, I had no clue we were attending a fundraiser for a relative with ALS. When we got to the party, my parents went to go greet a man in a motorized chair. I quickly noticed his frail figure and the little control he had over his body. This was first ever encounter with a disabled individual.
Flash forward to now, I occasionally have the images of him pop up in my head (especially during this weeks discussion on disabilities). Him being a distant relative, in just recent years I have learned that his disease took over, and he is no longer with us. If I could I would go back in time and scold my middle school self for being so uneducated, I would. Although many blindly did the ice bucket challenge, it did have a gigantic impact. The ALS ice bucket challenge raised tremendous awareness for the disease and raised over 115 million dollars for the ALS association. "It turns out those much-mocked Ice Bucket Challenge videos helped do a lot of good" (The New York Times).
Now that the social media trend has passed, many have already stored it as a distant memory. But we can not allow this disease, and the people with it, to be forgotten. 6,000 people a year are diagnosed with ALS in America alone. If you would like to learn more or donate (or even redeem your middle school conscious) head over to ASLA.org.
