Chepstow woman tells story of her disability

9:20am Tuesday 4th January 2011

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AT 29 years old, Meg Kingston was struck by the first serious symptoms of what was eventually diagnosed as multiple sclerosis (MS) – 17 years on, she has written and published a book about her experiences.

The MonSter and the Rainbow: Memoir of a Disability, is Chepstow-based Mrs Kingston’s account of her struggles to get a diagnosis, and how the disease took hold of her life.

Self-published, part of the proceeds from sales will go to MS charities, but another key aim, she says, is to try to get people to think about disability, and how the wider world views disability and the disabled.

“I think it is a problem for many people, understanding what chronic illness really means,” said Mrs Kingston, a former IT engineer, who also runs disability awareness programmes.

“It is difficult for people to understand that you have whatever disability you have, and you have to cope with it.

“Among those I’d like to read it are anyone who works with a person with a chronic illness, anyone who works in a service industry, anyone basically, who in a role where they have to deal with people.”

at the heart too, of The MonSter and the Rainbow is MS, the most common disabling neurological condition.

The book chronicles unflinchingly but not without humour, Mrs Kingston’s struggles with the challenges and frustrations of life with MS, and its effects on a previously fit person who can now only walk short distances with the aid of sticks, and uses a battery-powered wheelchair.

“One of the big problems is that everybody has heard of MS, but very few know what it is,” said Mrs Kingston, who has also published three volumes of short stories and is currently working on a drama with a BBC Radio Four producer.

• The MonSter and the Rainbow is published by Mrs Kingston’s own Jay Walker Writing, priced £8.99. it is available from the Rainbow Bookshop and Cafe, Moor Street, Chepstow, or through monster-rainbow.co.uk

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