Araiah's friends
Become one of Araiah's friends
Somebody is going to arrive at Araiah in the situation you were in, and ask the question you once asked. With your experience to draw on, they get your version instead of starting cold.
You decide what goes into your profile, whether your name is on it, and you can take your profile back at any time.
Araiah is our Ai Companion. She is an AI, and what she shares comes from Ai Arthritis , which is led by people living with autoimmune and autoinflammatory arthritis ( Ai Arthritis ) diseases.
What does being one of Araiah's friends involve?
Being one of Araiah's friends means sharing one part of your experience as a short profile, which Araiah can pass on to someone arriving in the situation you were in.
Key takeaways
- An Araiah profile is a short write-up of one part of someone's experience, which Araiah shares in her conversations with patients and caregivers.
- Each of Araiah's friends chooses what goes into their profile and what name is on it, including no name at all.
- Araiah always says whose experience she is sharing, and she never speaks as the person who lived it.
- Anyone who becomes one of Araiah's friends can withdraw their profile at any time by emailing info@aiarthritis.org.
Araiah never brings somebody's whole history into a conversation. She takes the one detail that answers what somebody asked, from the profile closest to their situation, and says whose it is.
Anything that could identify you or someone else, such as your employer, your clinic or your town, stays out of your profile.
What does the form ask?
The form for becoming one of Araiah's friends runs three pages. Write your experience, or send a voice or video recording instead.
About you
Your name and email, which description on the form fits you, and the disease or diseases you live with
Your experience
One moment someone in your situation would recognize. What happened, and what changed it?
Your permission
What name to use, or none at all, and whether Araiah may share a profile written from what you sent
Who is Araiah looking for?
Araiah is looking for people in seven situations where she has nobody's experience to share yet. One experience cannot stand in for everybody, which is why there is more than one.
The seven situations Araiah is looking for are not the only gaps. If someone arriving at Araiah in your situation would find nobody's experience to learn from, your situation is a gap too.
A parent or caregiver of a child with an Ai Arthritis disease
Every conversation about the juvenile arthritis aids starts with a parent.
Diagnosed as a child, now an adult
Moving from pediatric to adult care, and the teenager who wants to hear from someone who came out the other side.
A young patient, with a parent taking part
So a teenager reaching Araiah hears from someone their own age.
A man living with an Ai Arthritis disease
Ai Arthritis diseases get described as mostly affecting women, and a man looking for someone like him should find one.
Living outside the United States
We are an international foundation, and care, coverage and diagnosis all work differently elsewhere.
A disease outside lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and Sjögren's
Spondyloarthritis, juvenile arthritis and the periodic fever diseases each bring people to Araiah.
Paying for treatment, insurance denials and work
The practical side of living with Ai Arthritis diseases, and no profile covers it yet.
Where do you start?
Start with the first page of the form for becoming one of Araiah's friends. You can go back a page at any point before you send it.
If the form for becoming one of Araiah's friends does not load, open the form on its own page.
Why your experience matters
The next person in your situation does not have to start cold.
What do people ask about becoming one of Araiah's friends?
Will my name be on my profile?
Your name is on your profile only if you choose it. On the form for becoming one of Araiah's friends, you can use your first name, a different name, or no name at all. Araiah always says the experience belongs to the person who lived it, using the name you chose, and she never speaks as you.
Can I take my profile back?
Yes. You can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing info@aiarthritis.org, and your profile is removed. That right is written into the consent you give on the form, alongside your permission for Araiah to share the profile with patients and caregivers.
Does Araiah speak as me?
No. Araiah is an AI and never speaks as anyone whose experience she shares. She introduces your experience as yours, along the lines of “an Ai Arthritis community member shared,” and shares only the one detail that answers what the person in front of her asked.
Who can become one of Araiah's friends?
Anyone whose experience someone else could use can become one of Araiah's friends, such as people living with an Ai Arthritis disease, diagnosed or still looking for answers, parents and guardians, partners, family and friends, and people who were diagnosed as a child or a teenager.
Want to take part in the work itself?
You can take part through Ai Arthritis Voices. It is how patients take part in what gets built, from the surveys that find what is missing to the panels that shape what closes it. Joining is free, and there is no ongoing commitment.