Australians, welcome!

[ActiveMSers]

The number one international area where people find ActiveMSers: Australia by a landslide (although there are a number of folks from Europe). Having been to Australia, I've learned how to speak your language. Add an "ie" on the end of everything. Unfortunately, with your accents, I can only pick up every third or fourth word. But I have an excuse: they didn't offer Australian language lessons in school....

[Michela11]

Well, being Australian I'm not too sure I want to be all other countries outside the United States.

But being the only thread - what the heck

Ah ... if you visit Australia you MUST be shown different parts of the country! We have different slang, accents and can often tell what state or even city someone is from by their accent ... that general "Strine" (as in AW-STRINE) isn't found everywhere.....

[ActiveMSers]

Ah, I was exaggerating about the accents. We were in Melbourne and Tasmania mainly with some good friend (one who grew up in Melbourne). Only once did we have to strain our ears. Lovely country. And everyone is so bloody friendly! I'm now a footie fan, seek out meat pies, and have new respect for spiders (Huntsmans, wow!)....

[Michela11]

Hey no worries, Dave. Knew you were joking!

Australians can talk veerry fast though. I used to take university students in as boarders, most from overseas, and also had one local guy staying with us. The poor kids could not understand him, as he spoke a million miles an hour and had a very broad Strine accent. I even had trouble sometimes, and would find myself nodding and agreeing with NO IDEA of what he was talking about.

So what to do in a situation like that? I didn't want to offend him ....

My then four year old came to the rescue by telling Uncle Shane that mummy said he talked too fast.

Uncle Shane, thank you-know-who, had the sense of humour to come and talk about it. So then began a period of him greeting the students ... "H-e-l-l-o, h-o-w a-r-e-y-o-u?" in a very loud voice.

[Michela]

Wow back here after 5 years (I'm Michela11 originally) and what an amazing, courageous, I credible journey Dave has been through! Still in Sydney, still living with MS. educating myself on stem cell therapy now.

[MayaPanissetPhD]

Covid-19 Research Survey for Australians with MS


Melbourne, Australia underwent a strict and prolonged lockdown in 2020. This research survey wants to know how Covid-19 affected Australians, both in and out of lockdown, with respect to physical activity levels and venues (indoor/outdoor, for example).

The survey also asks about MS-specific information and intentions with respect to vaccinations.
Please help us examine these important topics by filling out this anonymous survey.

This has been approved by the University of Melbourne ethics committee and will take approx 20 min to complete.

https://redcap.link/MS_Covid