National Health Council — Voluntary Health Agency Guide

American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association

The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) was founded in 1991 to bring a national focus to autoimmunity and increase collaboration in research, education, awareness and advocacy programs. AARDA brings a national focus to all autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, type I diabetes, sclerdoderma and Crohn's disease, as well as more than 75 others. The Association is the only national organization dedicated to addressing the problem of autoimmunity, the major cause of chronic illness.

The Association supports research into the causes and cures for autoimmune diseases, provides referrals and educational services to persons with autoimmune diseases, and works to increase the public's awareness and support of research concerning all autoimmune diseases. It also encourages both public and governmental support and facilitates a national focus and collaborative effort among state and national volunteer health groups that represent autoimmune diseases.

Autoimmunity is a result of a misdirected immune system that causes one's own immune system to attack itself. There are more than 80 known autoimmune diseases, and unlike the many forms of cancer that are recognized as being part of the general term "cancer," autoimmune diseases are recognized singularly rather than in the overall category of autoimmunity. The public in general is unaware of the autoimmune nature of these diseases. When most people hear one of these diseases referred to as an autoimmune disease, they incorrectly confuse the term autoimmune with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), or they think it is a form of cancer.

Some of the more than 80 autoimmune diseases are lupus, type I diabetes, scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, chronic active hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, Graves' disease, myasthenia gravis, myositis, antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), Sjögren's syndrome, uveitis, polymyositis, Raynaud's phenomenon and demyelinating neuropathies.