NRAS Launch RA Awareness Week 2024

16 September 2024

The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) started RA Awareness Week (RAAW) in 2013 with the aim to raise the awareness of the condition by educating and informing friends, family, employers and the general population about what rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is and the devastating impact it can have on people’s lives. 

This year for RAAW 2024 (16-22 September) the theme is #STOPtheStereotype focusing on dispelling the frustrating stereotypes that surround this incurable, invisible condition. The 450,000 people living in the UK with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) face people making assumptions about their condition, hearing comments along the lines of “you look fine how can you be unwell?’, ‘you are far too young to have arthritis’, ‘It’s just your joints getting old?’ amongst many others. 

We want people to check their preconceptions about RA with our #STOPtheStereotype quiz. Why not test your knowledge, and in turn by sharing the quiz you can help educate people and spread awareness on this condition that affects 1% of the population yet is still so misunderstood. 

“In the many years I have worked for NRAS, it still surprises me how rheumatoid arthritis is surrounded by so many misconceptions and stereotypes. It is one of the daily battles that people who live with RA must contend with, people not understanding the seriousness of rheumatoid arthritis. Raising the understanding of invisible conditions like inflammatory arthritis is vital to improving the lives of the 450,000+ UK adults with RA and can help NRAS’ vision for people to ‘live life without limits’.”

Stuart Munday, NRAS' COO

Help us to spread awareness of the #STOPtheStereotype campaign by taking part in the quiz, share it with your friends and family, and get people talking about the stereotypes that surround RA. We hope that people will take away some vital information that will help them understand this misunderstood condition. Alongside this campaign we will also be posting videos on Facebook, X / Twitter, Instagram and YouTube and sharing these will also help spread the word about RAAW 2024. 

Take part in the #STOPtheStereotype quiz, and you can also enter our free prize draw* for one of 4 £50 Love2Shop vouchers! 

Time to #STOPtheStereotypes.

^{*Prize draw T&C’s.}