0 voters
Personally, It does not matter to me if I’m called a person with diabetes or a diabetic. Either is fine with me. I mean the definition of a diabetic is a person with diabetes… I know others have different views on this topic though, so, do you prefer to be called a diabetic, PWD or are you like me and just not care what you are called? Or, do you prefer to be called something else. Also, why do you have these feelings?
i’m a diabetic. My feelings are that i’m a person 1st and if u talk about my health i’m just a diabetic it don’t make me the person I am. it just defines my health
My friend has high blood pressure but I don’t call her a “hypertensive”. I have diabetes but I am not a “diabetic”. Yes, a chronic condition affects my entire life but that condition doesn’t define me.
Thanks for doing the poll–fun way to get people engaged in conversation!
I didn’t even know what PWD was until I looked it up. 
I’m not sure if the common person would know that acronym…Diabetic is what I use, but whenever my son is old enough, he’ll tell us what he prefers (if anything at all), and we’ll go with that.
I really couldn’t care less. Neither term has a pejorative connotation for me personally, and of all the really big, harmful misconceptions about diabetes among the public at large, this one is too small to be on my radar.
I’m a diabetic. I’m also a hypertensive, a quilter, a retiree, a reader, a procrastinator, and a whole lot of other things positive, negative and indifferent. Mentioning any one of them doesn’t automatically eliminate the others, so I don’t see how one can imply that the word “diabetic” would define me as a person. Life is too short to get hung up on exactly how everyone words everything.
Cheers!
I do get that some people place a much larger value in using the term PWD and I like to respect that. I don’t take the term, diabetic, as a negative or an overwhelming descriptor of me. As a writer. I prefer the more concise term, diabetic.
Like @Uff_Da said, I’m also a breather, eater, walker, dog lover, and writer. They are all separate facets of who I am, but none of them totally defines me. I understand that diabetes seeps into every last crevice of your life and often makes us miserable. And we want the rest of the world to see that we are so much more than a diabetic. I think this debate is a tempest in a teapot but I like to respect people’s feelings, especially members of my tribe!
id always use diabetes or diabetic.
I want to be called “Mighty Wizard” but some call me Tim.
It really doesn’t matter to me. Being called a “diabetic” only means (TO ME) a person with diabetes, so they both mean the same thing. You could also call me Tim and I would still come to the dinner table when called.
Unless you’re serving Liver and Onions or Spam Soup. Then, it doesn’t matter what you call me. I’m not coming to the table.
Let’s see . . . how many horrible foods can we imagine. Hmm. Brussels Sprout Ketchup casserole topped with creamed turnips and butterscotch sauce.
I don’t mind either being called a diabetic or a person with diabetes. I don’t feel diabetic is a pejorative term. I just don’t want to be called "Hey you, or old lady. 
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It really doesn’t matter. Just don’t call me late for dinner.
I dunno abou tall of you, but I’d prefer to be called a healthy person!
You can be diabetic AND healthy…Diabetes doesn’t deem one unhealthy. Health is a choice. I agree…“Healthy person” is a good title!
I don’t care whether you call me a diabetic or person with diabetes, but I slightly prefer both terms to the abbreviation PWD. Why? Because it makes no sense to me to make a fuss over diabetic and then reduce its alternative to an abbreviation. Personally, I use diabetic as it is shorter than person with diabetes.
The idea of “healthy” is very subjective. People can be healthy while living with chronic illnesses or disabilities. I certainly consider myself to be healthy, as do my doctors, even though I have multiple “health” issues.
I use “person with XYZ” in my writing because I got used to using that type of language in graduate school and as part of my job, and these days it sounds unprofessional not to use it in formal writing. But I have issue with the fact that only things perceived as negative are subjected to this type of wordsmithing. So I, personally, don’t care what words are used, as long as it’s not using a word that’s been appropriated as an insult (such as the “R” word).
I honestly couldn’t care less…
As for me, I prefer to call you Thas. 
None of this really matters to me, but I do have to say one thing. I can’t recall one time I ever called myself or was called a diabetic or a PWD. I tell people I have diabetes and that is how they say it, too. (“Don’t you have diabetes?”). Although an old friend of mine referred to my D as its own person (“should your diabetes be taking that much insulin?”).
I just happen to have diabetes.