Growing up, PBS Kids was always a favorite channel of mine, airing programs like Clifford, Curious George, Arthur, etc. However, a particular favorite in the Martin house was Caillou. You know, the bald kid who everyone seems to have found to be an annoying brat in hindsight? Regardless of a judgment off character, Caillou represented more than just a kids television program for me and my brother growing up.

Alopecia, medically referred to as “alopecia areata,” is an autoimmune condition causing hair less in patches around the body. My oldest brother, Dan, was diagnosed with the condition at just 18 months old. While many people can mistake this for a form of cancer, the body’s immune system only affects the hair follicles, not causing any other direct harm to one’s health. The root cause of alopecia is indeterminate, yet many studies suspect environmental stressors to be related to alopecia’s onset.

While Caillou himself didn’t have alopecia or cancer, he set a good example for me from a young age about treating others that look different from oneself. I never really noticed my brother was “different” until other kids at school would mention it to me. Comments like “Does your brother have cancer?” or “Did he leave his wig at home” impacted my perception of how others viewed Dan. My brother never really took the comments to heart as he had learned to embrace his identity from a young age.

The Children’s Alopecia Project (CAP) is a program started by a father, whose daughter had alopecia, to bring other effected kids together. My family had joined the program as it sought to include all people affected by alopecia in order to provide support and strengthen confidence in one another. We had grown inseparable bonds with other families and the program was a true saving grace for my brother. CAP reinforced in me the need to treat others the way I would wanna be treated and celebrate our differences rather than neglect.

Besides children, alopecia also impacts people into old age in which learning to embrace a new aspect of one’s identity may be harder to do. Wigs are often a common solution to bring out the confidence in individuals as they age, bringing out their most authentic selves. But, wigs, and I mean good wigs, can be very expensive to afford. This past summer, Congressman James P. McGovern (MA-02), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) reintroduced the Wigs as Durable Medical Equipment Act. As multiple private insurance plans cover wigs for undergoing treatments causing hair loss or affected by alopecia, this legislation would expand coverage under the Medicare program.

While not many children would be eligible under this bill, the legislation represents a big step in reinforcing confidence in individuals going through hair loss. Instilling confidence and courage is an essential human trait we all need to live our everyday life. The means to do so are various, but guaranteeing a path for self-assurance is a life-changing decision to government has the chance to make.