ME and CFS in popular culture

Common stereotypes
Three common but incorrect stereotypes are express across many media:
 * 1. Patients are just tired, like everyone else gets, or lazy.
 * 2. Or conversely, that patients are ambitious overachievers, burnouts
 * 3. Patients are hypochondriacs and attention seekers.

The primary misconception behind these stereotypes is that patients are not simply tired, they are severely sick & disabled.

Film

 * David Puttnam (British filmmaker)

Television

 * Michael Crawford (British actor)
 * The Golden Girls
 * Ricky Gervais mocked ME patients in his comedy act. Matthew Smith blogs at Indigo Jo Blogs about this and has a short clip of Gervais in a 3 minute Youtube video C.F.S/M.E - The Torturous Disease embedded in the article "Ricky Gervais on ME, and other bad comedy". The ME Association wrote about his "apology".
 * Transparent
 * Vicky Beeching (UK TV broadcaster)
 * Martine McCutcheon (British actress)
 * Armando Iannucci wrote a comedy sketch where Jesus healed people with various ailments. When faced with a person with chronic fatigue syndrome Jesus replied "yeah, well we all get tired".
 * House MD

Fiction

 * Love and Fatigue in America

Comics & cartoons

 * Blondie comic
 * Chronic fatigue syndrome anonymous
 * National chronic fatigue association
 * I'm too tired to eat
 * My stomach would hurt but I'm too tired
 * What doctors are really thinking
 * You're just dog tired

Music

 * Cher (singer)
 * Howard Bloom (publicist and writer)
 * Stevie Nicks
 * Stuart Murdoch (lead singer of Belle and Sebastian), "Nobody's Empire"
 * Yuppie Flu (Italian music group)

News and non-fiction

 * Yuppie Flu
 * Laura Hillenbrand
 * Lena Dunham
 * Ken Wilbur

Fashion

 * Laura Dundovic (model). Diagnosed with the disease when she was 16 years old.

Learn more

 * Wikipedia - List of people with chronic fatigue syndrome