CanaryPod: Topple Uncaged meets… the Millions Missing: Wilhelmina Jenkins

THIS PODCAST CONTAINS LANGUAGE AND CONTENT SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND OFFENSIVE. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS EPISODE ARE THE OPINIONS OF THE HOST AND GUESTS.

Welcome to a special series of episodes of #ToppleUncaged!

Every week, The Canary will be bringing you a new podcast on the media landscape; hosted by me, Steve Topple. But this week is different. Because it’s both Millions Missing and ME Awareness week. So, The Canary and I are bringing you content across seven days.

Millions Missing

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, commonly referred to as ME, is a chronic systemic neuroimmune disease. It affects an estimated 17 million people at least worldwide and around 250,000 people in the UK. It has been fraught with controversy. For decades – and often still to this day – the medical profession has not properly recognised it. People living with ME have been disbelieved, stigmatised, given incorrect treatment, or told it’s ‘all in their heads’. But campaign group ME Action Network (#MillionsMissing) and charity ME Association (#MEAwarenessWeek) aim to change this.

In the fifth of six daily podcasts, I caught up with campaigner Wilhelmina Jenkins. She has lived with ME for over thirty years and recently wrote for ME Action Network on her experience as an African American woman. We discussed the intersections of ethnicity and the disease, why the medical profession still neglects the BAME community more than others and her hopes for the future.

Listen below:

https://soundcloud.com/thecanaryuk/canarypod-toppleuncaged-meets-wilhelmina-jenkins

CanaryPod: #ToppleUncaged show notes 11 May 2019

Presented, produced, and edited by Steve Topple.

Sound engineering by Gav Pauze.

A song for ME: Blowin’ in the Wind by Rob McMullen:

Follow on Twitter:

Steve Topple @MrTopple; The Canary @TheCanaryUK; Wilhelmina Jenkins @minadjenkins; ME Action Network @MEActNet; ME Association @MEAssociation; Gav Pauze @PauzeRadio.

Use the hashtags #ToppleUncaged #CanaryPod #MillionsMissing #MEAwarenessWeek#GoBlue4ME #MAIMES

Find out more about Gav Pauze.

Topple Uncaged Theme Music: Lost Souls by Lee Wrizzle.

Featured image via ME Action Network, The Canary and Wilhelmina Jenkins