On 6 October 1979, the MND Association was founded by a small group of volunteers. People affected by MND, who knew every day mattered.
Professor Stephen Hawking accepted our invitation to be a Patron. He remained a figurehead of the charity until his death in 2018.
Within a year of our launch, we’d funded our first full-time MND research fellow, based at Charing Cross Hospital’s neurological department. And, in 1982, we held our inaugural research conference, attended by 40 specialists.
More than four decades on, the MND Association is still the leading MND charity in the UK. We support thousands of people affected by MND every year by bringing understanding and guidance, and by providing practical and financial support.
We take a leading role in the global fight against MND by funding ground-breaking research and connecting researchers to speed up the pace of progress. Our annual International Symposium on ALS/MND attracts more than a thousand researchers from around the world.
Our campaigning has changed rules, guidelines and the law, improving life for people affected by MND. And our awareness has helped to give people with MND a voice.
The timeline below shows key milestones from our first 40 years.
