​Wear white ribbons in honor of Albinism Awareness Day!

Why is June 13 such a big deal? This day isn’t just about disability awareness, but people with albinism in some countries in Africa are attacked and sometimes killed because of the disorder. They also don’t always have good skin protection so can die very young from skin cancer.

Even though I have albinism, I have glasses, eye protection in the form of sunglasses, skin protection in the form of sunscreen and long sleeves, and the ability to have eye surgeries to help my vision, of which I’ve had three. 

Here’s my amazing eye doctor of almost twenty years and my favorite eye technician! I miss my eye doctor because he recently retired. 

(And no, I do not like the sun. ????)

People definitely make rude comments and misunderstand, but I do not need to fear for my life or have a shorter than normal lifespan because of something so preventable as skin cancer. I used to not tell anyone I had albinism, but now I have shared it in front of my college, to newspapers, and to medical students at the U. 

Access Press newspaper about my disability awareness at Northwestern (undergrad program) 

I write pretty often for Albinism InSight by NOAH (National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation) 

I wrote for the Northwestern newspaper (The Examiner) several times

Recently I was in my local newspaper! 

People like to ask me questions about having albinism. I think that is awesome! Feel free to comment below.

What can you do? Glad you asked! ????

1. Wear a white ribbon, the color for albinism awareness (according to the UK)

2. Research albinism or ask me questions about it! One of my goals is to keep conversations about disability alive because I believe it normalizes disabilities and makes them less scary.

Thanks for reading about something really important to me!!