Posted by Marina on December 23, 1998 at 12:29:24:
In Reply to: responding to sue posted by the runna on December 23, 1998 at 01:57:16:
"Something even more saddening than this is the diabetics who have espoused this pathology. I was met
by diabetic after diabetic who insisted in telling me that we would not find a cure nor did they need one
as they were doing fine on their insulin program."
I agree with your observations completely. I just recently wrote a rebuttal to a story in our local paper that presented diabetes as a "nothing" kind of disease. The article featured a mother and her 11 year old son who acknowledged that he didn't even consider diabetes to be a disease. The mother's comments were even worse. I don't know if the attitude of the people in the article is more prevalent than not but it seems to be that they certainly are more outspoken. For this reason I wrote my rebuttal that very day and sent 3 copies to the newspaper so they would have no excuse of not printing it. The next week, my letter was published and I received many calls, some from complete strangers, who wanted to thank me for writing it. (Why didn't they speak up?...embarrassment? shame?)
I think sometimes that people affected by diabetes are maybe embarrassed of the disease and in an effort to appear "normal" dismiss the disease as "no big deal". Or maybe some parents are in denial or something. I don't know. All I know is that I agree with Ayden, I see a lot of apathy and complacency among the diabetic community. It's not really evident online but in the "real" world it seems to be very prevalent.
I remember once when I was in high school, a girl I knew was found collapsed and shaking on the hallway floor. Nobody knew what was wrong, not even the teachers. Finally her best friend came up and shouted "She has diabetes!!" Why did they keep it a secret? That memory has stayed with me and I use it to remind myself of the dangers of keeping a serious disease a secret. I will never understand some people's motivations; nor do I think I want to.
Bravo to you Ayden for battling not only diabetes but apathy, complacency, ignorance and denial. Knowledge is power.
Marina