This year's theme was Behind the Gene. 

The invisible challenges and untold stories of Huntington’s disease.


Too often, people affected by Huntington's disease find themselves educating the public about their condition. 

Not everyone has heard of Huntington’s disease, and that includes healthcare professionals. A staggering 85% of 150 people asked in a recent survey had to educate a doctor, nurse or healthcare professional about Huntington’s disease. This is just one of the many challenges the Huntington’s community faces. We are trying to change this.

Awareness Month  2026

Community involvement

The involvement in this year's awareness month has been incredible. 


The factsheet distribution packs were sent out to 89 people and these were taken to local GPs, hospitals, care homes, or any healthcare setting where there is an opportunity to raise awareness and encourage training around Huntington's disease.

Factsheet distribution - Behind the gene

How our community got involved

Tampworth support group (1)

Hosting pop-up events

26 members of the community hosted awareness raising or fundraising pop-up events in their local area. They were in hospitals, clinics, care homes, restaurants, shopping centers and more.

awareness 1

Distributing factsheets

89 people registered to deliver awareness factsheets to healthcare settings in their local area. Last year 25 areas were covered.

HDYV in Parliament

Shared your stories

The theme was, your life in a Huntington's family and what you wish others knew about Huntington's disease.

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Press release templates

Local press love real stories and this is a great way to raise awareness. We created templates for the community to use.

Profile picture  badge  Behind the Gene (2)

Using our social badges and graphics

People showed their support this awareness month by changing their profile picture and sharing our graphics.

#HDWalk logo

HDWalk

Built around the idea that every step tells a story, HDWalk had 31 people take part this year raising an incredible £9,118.67.

Sign up here

Read the stories from the Huntington's community

Behind the gene

Behind the gene - Susan's story

Awareness, Carers, Community stories

Read more

Behind the gene

Behind the gene - Dawn's story

Awareness, Community stories, Youth engagement service, Carers

Read more

Behind the gene

Behind the gene - Lisa's story

Awareness, Community stories, Carers

Read more

Behind the gene

People with Huntington’s disease deserve to get the best care possible

Professionals, Support

Read more

Behind the gene

Behind the gene - Becky's story

Community stories, Awareness

Read more

Behind the gene

Behind the gene - Maureen's story

Awareness, Community stories

Read more

Educating health and social care professionals

During May, we launched our new expert professional guidelines. These have been created especially for Huntington's disease and co-produced with specialists from the health and social care sector.

View and share our guidelines

We also launched our Care Coordination report in Parliament which called for better care coordination for people affected by Huntington's disease in England and Wales. 

Find out more about the event

Behind the gene - educating professionals

What we do

Huntington's disease

We support adults and families

Support near you

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We support children and young people

Youth engagement service

Training

We support healthcare professionals

Professionals and training

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