February is Turner Syndrome Awareness Month

by Becky Brown, TSSUS National Director of Development & Communications

February is the month we all wait for with great excitement! This is the TS community's time to shine, and we've been working hard preparing a special Turner Syndrome Awareness Month Kit just for you.

Our theme this year is "Be You". It's vitally important for all of us to raise awareness of Turner syndrome, but it's equally important to sometimes focus on raising self-awareness, self-acceptance, self-advocacy, and self-care. We believe that in doing this, every person with TS will have a better opportunity to thrive and to become your own best advocate when seeking health care.

February is going to be all about celebrating you! On this blog, the Turner Syndrome Society of the United States (TSSUS) will spotlight TS Stories that talk about every aspect of living with Turner syndrome. The good, the bad, and the somewhere in between. When you write your story, don't shy away from talking about your challenges and how you have overcome them. TS is a variable condition, and no two stories are exactly the same. What may be a big challenge for you, may not be for someone else, and vice versa. Your successes are yours alone, and we want to celebrate them, however big or small. We will publish at least one new TS Story per day in February, and up to 3 or 4 if we have enough people submit them. Wouldn't it be great if we eventually published all of these stories in a book someday?

Imagine if reading your story inspires another young person with TS, or helps new parents understand what their child may face or inspire them to have hope. We at TSSUS try to do this every day, but no one can tell your story better than you.

For parents, your story matters, too! We want to hear about your journey, be it a prenatal diagnosis, a loss, or plain old parent-bragging! Tell us about your child and how they've managed with TS. This is your chance to inspire parents with a new diagnosis and those who may be a point of struggle with their child or adult child with TS.

The TS Awareness Month Kit also includes an in-depth infographic on TS that can be used as a tool to spread awareness on social media, and as a leave-behind one-page document you can print and leave with your doctor of school nurse.

Photo sharing will also be a big component of TS Awareness Month. We've created several themed graphic templates to use for your photo, so that you can share them on your socials. Submit your photo to us, and we can build the graphic for you, or you can download the templates and use a program like Canva or Adobe Express and insert your photo yourself.

We've also created 4 different selfie-sign graphics for you to use. Please download the graphic, print it, write your name in the space provided, and post your selfie on our Facebook group or send it to us. (Detailed instructions are in the Guide).

Be sure to sign up to receive our e-newsletter so that you don't miss out on anything. The TSSUS TS Awareness Month Kit was emailed to everyone on our list on January 21st. If you didn't receive it, it's because we don't have you on our list.

Venture over to the Awareness Month section of our webpage to download the TS Awareness Month Kit and Guide and get ready to cover social media in TS Awareness!