Show your zebra stripes on February 28 – Rare Disease Day!

On the last day of February every year, rare disease patients and advocates come together to mark Rare Disease Day.

The zebra is the official mascot for rare disease patients. Why a zebra? Historically, medical professionals were told that when they “hear hoofbeats”, they should not expect to see a zebra. In other words, look for the more common answer, a horse.

Now we know that one in 10 people are actually a zebra. Worldwide there are more than 300 million people with a rare disease.

It might not be obvious when you look at us, which is why we show our stripes to raise awareness.

Take a picture of your striped look and share it on social media with the hashtags #ShowYourStripes, #RareDiseaseDay and #Wilsondisease to join the celebration of the many faces of rare diseases.

Tag Wilson Disease Association (@wearewilsons) so we can feature your posts.

Link to download graphics in multiple languages

Find all the material you need to raise awareness. Social media posts, posters, infopacks, toolkits, fact sheets, infographics and more. All this material comes in many languages. Click the link below to access the complete toolkit.

https://www.rarediseaseday.org/downloads/

Here are some of the images you can access to help with your communications.

Let your creativity shine as you decorate yourself, your home or business in zebra stripes and show the world why you’re a zebra.

Let’s ensure that Wilson disease is well represented as one of the 7,000 rare diseases around the world.