I have heard all kinds of stories about telling employers about MS and I really don't know what the answer is. I am a private person, but I have found support by talking to fellow MSrs in the community.
I have worked enough and I am happy to be touring the country speaking about living with MS to give people inspiration and motivation to help themselves.
I recently saw the movie about Ray Charles, and there's a scene where he falls down and the mother doesn't help him. She says, I don't want anyone to treat you like a cripple. I've fallen down before, and Molly will say, get up and just go.
I was in an acting class taught by Eric Morris, and Jack Nicholson was in the class. He wrote the script for 'Head', so all of us in the class got little tiny parts in the movie.
Usually, the extras have a different mentality. I had the mentality of an artist, because I was a 'ballet-rina.' But most extras are out to make a fast buck for nothing. They're 'atmosphere.'
My doctor said, for want of a better word, now that we've got medicines out here that can help, let's put you on one of them and say we're treating MS.
In addition to having a good partnership with a good doctor, you have to do some of the work yourself. Go online, read about it, and find out what you can tolerate.
I think eventually they're going to find out that MS is like 10 different things. I have a neurological disease something like MS, and it's MS, so let's take medicine for it.
I don't consider that I have to judge any of the movies I make all the time, but people are always asking me, 'What's your favorite movie?' And I never know what to say.
I danced in a company of 'West Side Story' when I was very young. It was most of the original cast - Larry Kert, Chita Rivera - and Jerry Robbins directed. It was tough, a wonderful initiation for me.
