Ehlers-Danlos is a group of inherited disorders that affects the bodies soft tissues. People with the condition suffer from lax joints, bruise easily, have stretchy skin and many other more minor side effects.
As someone who suffers from the condition, I know first hand how savage the condition can be. Although many people who do not know about it find it funny, it is anything but. The daily pain, which can be managed with pain killers, can disrupt those with the conditions daily lives. Frequent subluxations can make walking and running difficult (luckily for me I hate running anyway..).
Although it can cause severe embarrassment, it is a genetic disorder, something which the suffer has no control over. As it is a relatively uncommon disorder there is a bit of a stigma attached to it. I tend to find people laugh as they don't know what else to say. I also make jokes about it, but mainly because if I didn't I'd spend my whole life letting it get me down.
In a parallel world I would not have been born with this condition, but I did and I have to accept it. It gets me down and hinders my every day life but there is nothing I can do. I can either moan about it, or keep living. It is one of the reasons I have done so many things with my life. It is like a big black cloud following me, but one day the cloud will disappear and it will be sunny again.
The Ehlers-Danlos Support Group has been set up to help those with the condition, and gives medical advice and support on how to not let it bring you down. I hope that one day I will have millions of pounds to pour in to research about the condition, and one day there will be medical advancement in to better treatment. Here is the website, go check it out (and if you want a laugh, youtube videos of bendy people with Ehlers-Danlos..)
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