When Spinocerebellar Atax. Ia.

See what I did there? When Spinocerebellar Ataxia attacks? Atax. Ia? Get it?

Never mind.

Anyway, as I’ve noted before I have SCA. And this morning there was a brief episode, which I tried to manage with as much grace as I could having just busted my ass. I wrote a note to those who sit around me.

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Hi. I wanted to drop a quick note to those of you in my Optiv neighborhood before anybody goes to HR to ask why I can be drunk at work but they can’t.

I fell this morning in my cubicle and made a good bit of noise doing it. It was embarrassing (although I didn’t hurt myself – nor, apparently, the cubicle), but it’s sort a routine part of my life. About a decade ago I was diagnosed with Spinocerebellar Ataxia, a rare movement disorder that seems to be related to things like MS and Huntington’s. The symptoms include loss of balance – which was on display this morning. In fact, if you’ve watched me in the past you probably noticed that I’m always staggering.

It’s actually amazing to me I haven’t taken a header before now. But it will almost certainly happen again. Unless I’m screaming in pain or bleeding on our really nice carpet, feel free to give me a wave, laugh along with me or just ignore the whole spectacle.

My team knows about the condition and so does HR. Also, while it’s obviously not the greatest conversation topic in the world it’s not a secret or a sore spot with me. I’m actually XD of a small non-profit dedicated to raising money for SCA research and have written about a few times on a blog I run. So feel free to ask, comment, point and gawk, whatever.

Oh yeah – we actually have a t-shirt (albeit one with a slight spelling issue):