Bridging the messaging gap? type 1, type 2

Diabetes Advocacy Self Advocacy
#1

hey everyone.

I have a question for you.

What kind of messaging would work effectively to bridge the gap between type 1 and type 2?
should this gap be bridged?

as far as I understand. messaging that begins with
"eating too much sugar did not cause..." fails for a lot of reasons.

is it worth bridging that gap?
wouldn't we be stronger all together?

Can we as a community find a common ground?

I know that tudiabetes takes that position.

i'd like to try and find a kind of messaging that doesn't divide type 1's and 2's and doesn't put blame on the individual.

i'm approaching this from:
we're stronger together, though we aren't the same.
both type 1 and type 2 is on the rapid rise.
the environment has a lot to do with it.

what are your thoughts about this, and everything around this?

#2

Try this test. Look up any articles you can find about Diabetes. If they are of the type "Diabetes is/causes/does ......" without specifying a type, it's always about Type 2. We need to differentiate because a lot of the popular advice simply doesn't apply to Type 1's. We don't need another well-meaning person to tell us we can get off insulin if we would only follow Dr. Somebody's advice on diet and exercise.
About the blame that Type 2's get: I agree completely with you. I've met adult Type 2's who are not overweight, or maybe a few pounds. They are not lazy and greedy and gluttonous. When I hear people say that, I speak up and say that is a harmful myth. So we can definitely work together on that. And testing blood sugar isn't fun for anyone. We do have a lot of things in common.

#3

Hi -

Who is the message for? If it's for other people with diabetes (all types), then the message might be something like "We didn't cause our diabetes but it is our responsibility to manage it".

If the message is for the world at large, I'd prefer something like Susan Sontag's message from Illness as Metaphor which seeks to illuminate the "punitive or sentimental fantasies" about those who are ill. She opens:

"Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place."

I'm sure this isn't what you had in mind and I apologize but I don't think we'll overcome the prejudice against us except by fighting against the whole construct that ties illness and disease with character.

Maurie

#4

I believe that it is an imperative that we come together as a community to deal with the understanding and misconceptions about diabetes. If we have any hope of truly dealing with this problem in the media and public sphere we must do this. We often get a flareup among ourselves about this. But the truth is, none of us asked for diabetes. We all try to make good decisions, but we all struggle with our lives. And people with type 1 and type 2 are closer to each other because of their diabetes than they are with the "glucotypical" population. If we are really to be successful with advocating we need to let the world know how big the problem of diabetes actually is and that we should work more aggressively to deal with it. We shouldn't fight among ourselves about who has it worse.

ps. I think I'm going to start using "glucotypical" like neurotypical is used in the autistic community to describe people who are diabetic. Our focus should be on the differences between PWD and glucotypicals, not about the differences in PWD.

#5

I have played around with twitter, FB, occasionally commented on blogs and on message boards. I first explored using message boards when I was buying a guitar amp and then later when I was playing fantasy baseball. I find that message boards (like this one...) offer the best balance of personality and checks and balances (i.e. Admins...) to offer good answers to questions.

Sometimes I find that Tu skews towards low-carb solutions to many food questions but, given the large number of participating members who have found success with that tactic, it seems reasonable while we wait for science to answer the question "how many carbs does a man need?" (cf. Tolstoy...hee hee...).

I also think that having moderated discussions where people taking aggressive stances sometimes leads to policing. The baseball group was opposed to swearing but, during say Yankees-Bosox games the "game threads" would always be full of "You suck, no you suck more, you suck so much that..." sort of antics which can be amusing if you're in the mood. We don't get that here as much but every now and then something breaks out. I think that it's very important T1 and T2 to stand up for each other and, much of the time, people here do that. There are plenty of folks who have meandered in with a T2 dx that evolves into a T1/LADA/MODY dx and other people (Richard157 and natalie_c come to mind...) have also suggested that after years, they are perceiving what they've called double diabetes with elements of both.

I agree with looking at "cause" as something I'm very skeptical about because, when it's all said and done, no one is 100% sure if everyone with various genetic markers develops whatever type or if (or maybe how?), as Marina suggests, we are created by the environment. Personally, I don't look at those questions too much and am more interested in tactical approaches that will lead to strategic success, like Dr. Steven Ponder, although, as a pediatric endo, I suppose he's skewed towards T1?

Brian, are "glucotypicals" PWD or PW/OD? To me the word sounds like "typical" bg or the standard model without T1 or T2 or another type.

#6

Glucotypicals are people without diabetes. I would call them "gluconormal" but I won't give them credit for that. How can you call not having diabetes normal when 10% of the US population has diabetes. The new normal is that diabetes will literally touch everybody in some way.

#7

oNE THING WE CAN DO AS INDIVDUALS NOW THAT November (nATINAL d mONTH IS COMING) IS TO CONTACT THE MEWS MEDIA IN OUR AREAS WITH SIMPLE STATEMENT - NEWS BITES - THAT ARE TRUTHS ABOUT DIABETES. tHAT TYPE 2 IS HEREDITARY - NOT COAUSED BY LIFEFSTYLE, THAT TYPE 1 CAN OCCUR AT ANGY AGE (NOT JUST CHILDREN GET IT AND THUS THEY DON'T DGROW OUT OF IT). I 'VE HAD SOME SUCCESS - AT LEATS GETTTING RESPONSES FROM REPORTERS AFTER I POINT OUT THAT A SENTENCE IN THEIR STORY IS MISLEADING. (of course I shoud learn tio yo type - sorry about hitting the caps key).
I reached out to Joy Bauer of the Today show, she responded and when she reports on the success of a person losing a lot of weight and improveing their diabetes issues - tshe states that it is type 2., SO it can happen. If we overwhelm the glocunormLS WE CAN GET THINGS CORRECT OUT THERE.
And I will learn to type as fast as I think. Again apologies. I just hate typing things over again.

#8

I am a type 2 on an insulin pump, with a 0.2 c-peptide..

What gap?

:)

We're all diabetics.

-Lloyd

#9

I like a message that says, "No one is to blame for diabetes but where you go from here is up to you."

To me this says, Its not you fault but you have responsibilities for you own health going forward. I speak from a Type 2 perspective and believe that T2s did not cause their disease but I also believe that many, myself included, do not or did not embrace their diagnosis and take the required action when action was needed. I'm sure there are T1s that do the same thing, I'm thinking of those that do just enough to survive but don't fully engage themselves.

I would like to change the perception of a PWD from being someone to blame to be that of someone that has responsibilities that cannot be ignored.

#10

That is awesome. As someone with type 1, I too get blamed because people don't know anything about diabetes - really. The scary part is that since the general public doesn't know how diabetes comes about, they don't know to have things checked out. I believe there is a smug attitude (in the general public) that allows them to feel "safe" since "people who have diabetes did it to themselves, and I (sic) don't misbehave so I'm safe"