The mission of Show Us Your Hands! is to unite and inspire people who live with inflammatory arthritis. We carry out this mission through creative community projects and awareness campaigns aimed at increasing public understanding of inflammatory arthritis. Our community members, program participants, volunteers, donors, directors and staff work together to build hope for the inflammatory arthritis community, one hand at a time.
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We show our hands to raise awareness and understanding of inflammatory arthritis.
We show our hands to connect with others whose lives have been touched by inflammatory arthritis.
We show our hands to demonstrate that even with our pain and disabilities we remain strong and courageous.
We show our hands to create a world where hope shines brightly for every single person who lives with inflammatory arthritis.Show Us Your Hands! includes people from around the world who live inflammatory arthritis.The most common types of inflammatory arthritis are: Ankylosing Spondylitis, Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, Psoriatic Arthritis, Reactive Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Scleroderma, Sjogren’s Syndrome, Still’s Disease and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.
Learn more about inflammatory arthritis »
- Show Us Your Hands! was inspired by the blog post “I’m Proud Of My Arthritis Hands,” written by Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy in August 2011. It has since grown to an international awareness movement that serves to unite and inspire people who live with inflammatory arthritis.
This inflammatory arthritis community collage project is a symbol of the wonderfully supportive inflammatory arthritis community that continues to grow and connect online. It acts as a reminder that we should be proud of our inflammatory arthritis hands. The community collage debuted in December 2011. People of all ages from around the world are represented in this collage and new photos continue to be added to it on a regular basis.
In January 2012, Show Us Your Hands! announced the collaborative effort of three leading advocates from the autoimmune blogging community. Lene Andersen (The Seated View) and Cathy Kramer (The Life and Adventures of Cateepoo) joined forces with Eduardo Flores (Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy) to organize creative community projects and awareness campaigns aimed at increasing public understanding of inflammatory arthritis.
Show Us Your Hands! launched the Our Hands Can! Photo Book in May 2012. This photo book contains inspiring photographs and stories of dozens of people of all ages from around the world who live with different types of inflammatory arthritis. This photo book is a tangible affirmation that we can find a way to continue to live meaningful, productive and joyful lives.
The Show Us Your Hands! community is comprised of people living with different types of inflammatory arthritis, including: Ankylosing Spondylitis, Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, Psoriatic Arthritis, Reactive Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Scleroderma, Sjogren’s Syndrome, Still’s Disease and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.
- Our directors work as unpaid volunteers and do not receive any compensation from Show Us Your Hands! for services rendered. Our organization has adopted a Conflict of Interest Policy in order to protect the integrity of the Show Us Your Hands! decision-making process, to enable our constituencies to have confidence in our integrity, and to protect the integrity and reputations of our directors.
All of our directors live with inflammatory arthritis.
Eduardo Flores
President
eduardo.flores@showusyourhands.org
Cathy Kramer
Director, Community Programs
cathy.kramer@showusyourhands.org
Jessica Murphy
Director, Communications
jessica.murphy@showusyourhands.org
Lene Andersen
Director, Community Outreach
lene.andersen@showusyourhands.org
Sallie Ferguson
Director, Fundraising
sallie.ferguson@showusyourhands.org
Our Hands Can! Photo Book Release | May 7, 2012
One Thousand Hands Poster Release | May 1, 2012
Community Collage Grows to 1000 Photos | April 7, 2012
Photo Book Project Launch | February 14, 2012
Founding Committee Established | January 24, 2012
Show Us Your Hands! Debut | December 23, 2011Your Hands. Your Stories. Your Awareness Movement.
Show Us Your Hands! an inflammatory arthritis community collage project - Show Us Your Hands! was inspired by the blog post “I’m Proud Of My Arthritis Hands,” written by Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy in August 2011. It has since grown to an international awareness movement that serves to unite and inspire people who live with inflammatory arthritis.
