MS Australia launch new MS Connections animation

MS Australia has been collaborating with the MS community down under to create a stunning animation for World MS Day 2021. ‘Connecting with family and friends’ explores the benefits of human connection and the impacts of social isolation and loneliness on people living with MS. We asked MS Australia to tell us more about this beautiful video. Watch the animation and discover the story behind it.

MS Australia – Connecting with family and friends animation

This article was authored by Lisa Montague, National Advocacy, Publications and Media Officer for Multiple Sclerosis Australia.

Amongst our many activities, MS Australia creates and shares practical resources, to both help people live well with multiple sclerosis (MS) and raise awareness about the condition.

For the three-year World MS Day Connections campaign, we have developed annual sub-themes. In 2020 MS Australia focused on Connecting with self and in 2022 we will highlight Connecting with community.

Our new Connecting with family and friends animation, created for World MS Day 2021 and beyond, explores the benefits of interactions, connections and the impacts of social isolation and loneliness on people living with MS. The animation, launched on 4th May , provides tips for how to connect with and make the most of these vital relationships.

It builds on the success of our Invisible Symptoms animation created for World MS Day 2019. This resource has had approximately 700, 000 views worldwide and has been translated, subtitled or dubbed into nearly 20 languages.

The new Connecting with family and friends animation has a similar look and feel to the previous resource and the same female character/narrator, providing a continuum in the life of a young woman with MS. It takes viewers inside the world of someone living with MS, their feelings, challenges and the importance of family and friends. Using a narrator as the voice of experience, helps show how to connect with a person living with MS, which many people who live with the condition can find difficult or awkward to explain.

To ensure authenticity and create an engaging, educational and shareable resource, we consulted with the MS community about the proposed content and approach throughout. Voiced by a woman living with MS, each production stage (concept, script, sound and video) incorporated the words and experiences of people with MS and MS experts such as an MS Nurse and MS specialist psychologist.

We hope the new MS Australia Connecting with family and friends animation resonates with carers, friends, family and significant others and provides an insight into how you can combat social isolation and loneliness, by prioritising connections with the people closest to you. We hope you enjoy it!