On Friday October 17th, Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP) and Primary Lateral Sclerosis (PLS) communities around the world are uniting to raise awareness about these rare diseases. This year, 17 associations and 3 foundations from 15 countries are participating in a global campaign.
If you are interested in why this date has been chosen, read on EuroHSP: https://www.eurohsp.eu/events
How Can I Take Part? – Join an international Zoom call
There are two main ways you can take part in the day. On the day itself, the USA group, Spastic Paraplegia Foundation is running a whole day Zoom call, with segments run by various groups taking part. You are free to dial in for our session, or to take part in sessions run by countries around the world. The day starts with Australia, and the USA are keeping the call active for 17 hours until 8pm central USA time. Over that time you can see Sweden, UK, France, Italy, Canada and Brazil.
You will need to register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/WyIJ23XfQgeqg2gKe7aqMA
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
| Country | UK time | Central Europe time | Central USA time | Australian Eastern Standard Time | Universal Time | |
| Start | USA | 17 Oct 10:00 | 17 Oct 11:00 | 17 Oct 03:00 | 17 Oct 20:00 | 17 Oct 09:00 |
| Australia | ↓ | 17 Oct 10:00 | 17 Oct 11:00 | 17 Oct 03:00 | 17 Oct 20:00 | 17 Oct 09:00 |
| Sweden | ↓ | 17 Oct 15:00 | 17 Oct 16:00 | 17 Oct 08:00 | 18 Oct 01:00 | 17 Oct 14:00 |
| UK | ↓ | 17 Oct 15:30 | 17 Oct 16:30 | 17 Oct 08:30 | 18 Oct 01:30 | 17 Oct 14:30 |
| France | ↓ | 17 Oct 17:00 | 17 Oct 18:00 | 17 Oct 10:00 | 18 Oct 04:00 | 17 Oct 17:00 |
| Italy | ↓ | 17 Oct 18:00 | 17 Oct 19:00 | 17 Oct 11:00 | 18 Oct 04:00 | 17 Oct 17:00 |
| Canada | ↓ | 17 Oct 20:00 | 17 Oct 21:00 | 17 Oct 13:00 | 18 Oct 06:00 | 17 Oct 19:00 |
| Brazil | ↓ | 18 Oct 01:00 | 18 Oct 02:00 | 17 Oct 18:00 | 18 Oct 11:00 | 18 Oct 00:00 |
| Finish | USA | 18 Oct 03:00 | 18 Oct 04:00 | 17 Oct 20:00 | 18 Oct 13:00 | 18 Oct 02:00 |
Hopefully you can chat with others around the world!
Also during the day the Spanish group are running a hybrid in-person and online session between 4pm and 6pm (local time) making a proclamation about world HPS day. There are details here: https://aepef.org/17-octubre-dia-mundial/en-directo/ (Spain is 1hr ahead of UK, so this clashes with Sweden and UK in the schedule above).
How Can I Take Part? – Share a picture
The other way you can take part is to send a photo to be shared during the day on social media channels
Interlocked Finger Gesture
Our symbol for 2025 is the interlocked finger gesture:
👉 Join the tips of your left thumb and pointer finger.
👉 Join the tips your right thumb and pointer finger.
👉 Interlock them like a chain link.
Like this:
Then have someone take your picture. It could just be your hands making the gesture, or it can include your face:
With some Instagram (or similar) skills, you can then add this photo in our frame:
We’re looking to share these photos both on the 17th October and on the run-up towards it, principally on Instagram. If you can send your photos to us, we can put them on our Instagram channel, and perhaps other relevant places. Here is another example, but just showing hands.
Together, we will show the strength of our worldwide HSP and PLS community. Together, these become powerful symbols for the day. When you see them, please like and send to your followers
Here is the empty frame (hopefully with the transparent effect working):
