SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)
For Emirati Women's Month 2026, three Emirati women living with multiple sclerosis are challenging the idea that a diagnosis should narrow a woman's ambitions, identity or independence.
Hessa Alateibi, Mariyam Al Qubaisi and Muna Al Harbi, members of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS), want to show that accepting MS does not mean surrendering to it. Instead, it can mean recognising what the body needs, asking for support when necessary and refusing to measure a full life against the pace that came before diagnosis.
For Hessa Alateibi, who was diagnosed in 2006 after a six-year search for answers, acceptance became the starting point for moving forward.
"MS is a challenge, but I do not give it more than its size. I have to live with it in a way that allows me to live my life and accept it, because acceptance is the foundation of living with MS," she told Aletihad.
Her experience taught her to recognise her body's limits rather than constantly push against them. On days when she has the energy, Alateibi gives what she can; when her body needs rest, she listens.
"I learned strength, and I learned to take care of myself and not push myself beyond my limits."
She wants other Emirati women to know that being strong also means knowing when to slow down and give themselves a break.
"Do not push yourselves beyond your limits. Challenges are what give us strength, and strength is the foundation for facing challenges and living with them."
Family support can make an enormous difference, she said, but women living with MS also need to learn how to care for themselves rather than depend entirely on those around them.
Alateibi also pointed out that self-care should not be mistaken for selfishness. Giving the body time to recover can make it possible to remain present for family, work and the wider community.
There Is Always Room for Ambition
Mariyam Al Qubaisi, who has lived with MS for 13 years, also remembers the early period after diagnosis as one of the hardest stages of her experience.
Now an MS Ambassador, she advocates for disability rights and works to raise awareness about multiple sclerosis. But reaching that point, she said, took time.
"It was not easy at the beginning; it was extremely difficult, and I went through depression," Al Qubaisi told Aletihad.
As she came to understand her symptoms, however, she also began to understand her own capacity more clearly. Instead of approaching every activity in the same way she had before, she learned when she could do certain things and how to adapt them around what her body could manage.
"I learned how to adapt to the symptoms, understand when I can do certain things and find ways to do them that make life easier."
The people around her became an important part of that process: "I think family and friends' support is really important, as well as being willing to ask for help when it is needed."
Her message to women living with MS is ultimately about refusing to allow a diagnosis to determine the boundaries of their ambitions: "Do not let MS define the size of your life. Your diagnosis may change some things, but it does not have to take away your dreams."
Redefining What Strength Looks Like
As a mother, wife, professional and ambitious Emirati woman, Muna Al Harbi initially feared what MS could mean for the many parts of her identity and the responsibilities she already carried. Over time, she began to view the diagnosis less as an endpoint and more as a reason to reconsider how she moved through life.
"MS did not come to end my journey; it forced me to rediscover it in a different way," she told Aletihad.
That understanding did not come easily. Al Harbi went through denial, fear, anger and isolation before she began learning more about MS and looking for communities where she could speak with people who understood what she was experiencing.
"When I stopped resisting the reality of MS in my life, I began learning how to live with it instead of living in a constant struggle against it," she said.
She also stopped judging achievement by the pace she had maintained before diagnosis. Resting, changing plans or reaching a goal through a different route, she said, does not make a woman less ambitious.
For Al Harbi, support at home and at work also matters because many symptoms of MS are invisible. Fatigue, pain, cognitive fog, and difficulties with concentration or mobility can affect daily life even when there are no obvious outward signs that someone is struggling.
"In our Emirati society, family has a very strong presence, so it can become an exceptional source of strength when concern turns into understanding and empowerment rather than fear or overprotection," she said.
One misconception she wants to challenge is the assumption that looking well means someone cannot be struggling with the condition: "You look fine, so you must be fine.' This can also be painful because many MS symptoms are invisible."
Al Harbi added that workplaces also need to move beyond sympathy and offer greater inclusion and flexibility. Women living with MS, she said, should have the support they need to continue their careers with dignity and independence, without people lowering expectations of what they can achieve.
On Emirati Women's Month, her message is that, although MS may alter parts of a woman's journey, it should never be allowed to shrink her sense of identity or possibility: "MS is part of our story, but it is not the whole story. It may sometimes change our speed, but it should not change our destination."