8 Know Your Rights, Know When to Fight Knowing what your rights are, or what resources are available to you, can be tricky. It may depend on where you live, whether your MS has caused any degree of disability, or what your financial means are. Furthermore, with so many different pieces of legislation defining your rights, it can be difficult to know where to look to clarify what your options are. The Rehabilitation Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the Affordable Care Act and many other laws are involved in establishing the rights of a person with a health condition or disability. In some circumstances, there may be overlap. Let’s say, for example, that you needed time off work due to a relapse, but your boss refused to grant it. Depending on your circumstances and whether your boss’s behavior was discriminatory, your needed time might be protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, or simply by company policy. While it may seem overwhelming, learning the protections and benefits granted to you by law is essential. How will you know if your rights are being violated if you don’t know what your rights are? How will you know what assistance you have the right to receive if you don’t know your rights? Let’s look at four areas of life where knowing your rights has been a help to people with MS: healthcare, disability income, transportation, and housing. Not Disabled, Still Protected Many people who do not consider themselves disabled are still eligible for protections under federal law. For example, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, protections extend not just to those who currently meet the criteria for disability, but also those with a history of disability, and notably, those who are considered by others to be disabled. So even if you are not disabled, if someone considers you disabled because of your MS and discriminates against you on that basis, you are afforded protection by law. Family caregivers may also be protected, if the discrimination they face is on the basis of being associated with someone with a disability.