I learned about this topic recently at a Canadian Diabetes Association Advocacy training session I plan to use this during our British Columbia, Canada , Provincial Election with the Candidates in my riding .I thought it to be useful here as well ?? I will post to the best of my knowledge( incl. copying from my booklet !!) and with the aim to try to neutralize the negative impact of a statement such as : " Diabetes is a "lifestyle disease " and people , who have it are responsible for getting it " .
I am sure, that both T1’s and T 2 's have heard this type of statements . To reframe and one cannot negate a frame , it is suggested to state instead " people with diabetes need information , education and possibly intensive couselling in order to take personal control of their disease and manage it . People living with T1 can say: " Lifestyle is not a cause " and many T2 's can say : I have a genetic predisposition to the diseases.
Lots of people hold the believe that " diabetes is not as serious as cancer or heart disease " . Once you negate you actually make the statement stronger. Reframe it : diabetes is the fastest growing chronic disease ( it is in Canada , most likely same in the US ?) with terrible health consequences , accounting for almost a third of heart attacks , 30 % of strokes , half of new kidney dialysis cases and 70 % of amputations " .
( Canadian ) " Medicare is sustainable “: pay $ 1,00 now and you will save $ 4,00 later by prevention , education , early detection and treatment . The longer diabetes goes untreated , the more expensive it is to deal with .
” Diabetes is not that hard to manage " …use your personal stories to reframe this misconception . Personal stories are evocative, will stick in people’s memories …use them all the time and they can have the effect of sweeping away a whole raft of misconceptions at once .
All of us , living with diabetes , have a chance to make this a better understood disease be it T1 and T2 . A chance to re-name both types may come out of this discussion , ha, ha ???.
I hope I made some sense. Be well .
Nel, I liked most of what you had to say about reframing - except: “it is suggested to state instead " people with diabetes need information , education and possibly intensive counselling in order to take personal control of their disease and manage it.”
To my ears, that makes diabetes sound like a mental illness . . .
Thanks Yvonne , in response , I need to clarify … that was NOT the intend , however to make it short …supper is on my mind : a lot of us, living with diabetes suffer from depression…counselling may be the answer ?? . We have a program available in British Columbia , Canada called " Bounce Back " ; contact your GP and you can be coached …as a matter of fact…the coach in my Community lives with type 1 diabetes and a pump .
Maybe more to this ,after supper !!..THANKS , N.
I wonder if we sent such a document to the Nice Albertan Zoomy Individual that is our health minister is he would read one word. His philosophy if he has any is to dismantle the public health care system as soon as possible. then again like the germans you kinda get the govt you deserve. when you vote for the same party for a zillion years even went it produces 3 useless leaders in a row. He believes that paying for ER rooms and foot amputations is cheaper than subsidizing insulin. They are eliminating the drug subsidies for people over 65.
One day later: …if we live with a healthy, stronger mind , then we can absorb the information and education and take control of our chronic disease more succesfully .
It definitely is also that.
Anthony ,
Can you send some more info my way , please …I visited the Alberta Health website and understood, that more dollars are put aside for HEALTH in 2009 / 2010 .
Oh my , am I going off topic ??..Forgive 
these are just ideas i thought of, PLEASE do not yell at me if they don’t sound perfect, instead, please offer suggestions. i truely believe that the names and “groups” of diabetes should be restructured and renamed. I think the names should reflect the differences in the different types so that non-diabetics, and even diabetics, don’t just assume and offend.
okay i thought of another one but here is how i think it should be structured:
“type one”…Autoimmune Insulin Malfunction Diabetes…AIMD
“type two”…Reduced Insulin Receptor Diabetes…RIRD…my theory behind this, most people who i’ve encountered on this site that are type 2 and say it’s not because they are overweight, have a problem with insulin resistance. insulin resistance, in a nut shell, is when you don’t have enough insulin receptors on your cells to take in the insulin you are making. A lot of times this is due to heritity.
"type three…i haven’t come up with a name yet. this is for the people that become diabetic from being overweight and that could overcome diabetes by having a better diet and exercise. everything i thought of had the words obese or overweight in them but maybe they need that title to help get motivated and overcome the disease.
“type four”…gestational…no changes there!!
Good question where the money is going but not for people care could be the web site is not telling the truth. they give bonuses to their friends in charge of health care and they build new hospital buildings extensions which are empty because of the lack of staff and equipment. Construction projects they like, you get good kick back from contractors. The drug plans cuts I know are real from the participants in them. The underlying philosophy is to destroy medicare no secret there is is part of party policy.
But with this said I finally have been entitled to my cataract operations and only 1 1/2 year wait from problem developing and the operations. Would have been earlier if I had been working or totally blind. I did not mind the wait except I think having different vision in one eye to the other made me extremely tired.
Now with the collapse of the oil and gas royalities they will really cut our health care.
Thanks for this Nel, I think I was going through life quite angry that so many people made lite of my D, often they would say, oh just get on with it, it’s not difficult. I never fought back because I really believed I was making too much off it, I should be able to manage this without any difficulties. It is just like being given a new lease of life to know that other D feel the same. My own close family really don’t have a clue what it is like, this is really frustrating at times.
I’m not sure that renaming types of diabetes, or further differentiating the many types would be a good thing.
Of course the auto-immune (type 1, LADA) and the lower insulin production/insulin resistance (type 2, gestational) varieties are quite different chronic conditions. Those of us living with the conditions know that.
But putting us all together under the umbrella term “diabetes” has some advantages–most important, it gives us the strength of numbers. Before the explosion in type 2 diagnoses in the past 15 years, diabetes was not in the public vocabulary. Now it is. Many times, people get it wrong or misunderstand how it’s caused or treated. But at least they’re talking about it. And that means more people get screened, it’s easier to fund research, and manufacturers try harder to design products that make our lives better.
I think we should just be diabetics as cancer is cancer. This would force the GP’s ( PCP in american) or Endo’s to do a proper diagnosis in the beggining instead of guessing your type and classifying you by your age.
In Alberta amputations are 100% covered but little else unless you are on welfare. so our super capitalist party likes to send $20.00 on mutilations instead of $1 on prevention. go figure?
but there are many types of cancer. if someone tells me they have cancer, i say what kind, they say something like breast cancer and i know exactly what and where it is and how they are affected. maybe diabetes should be the same. i think people should be aware of the different types of diabetes and name changes would certainly help this.
Kelly , yes us living with the " different type of diabetes 's " may eventually know which type it is , however when I visit the conversation " misdiagnosed type 1’s" , not eveyone taking part in the discussion is certain either.So even amongst " us " there is confusion , due to naming.
I agree, that more people get screened today , than 15 years ago.
I was approached yesterday by someone , who truly thought , that a grey haired woman , should be plumpish and have diabetes …not the picture he has of me : grey hair and slim and have type 1 diabetes ( took the time and I explained my condition to him ) .
That’s a good point Amanda about different types of cancer and to add there are different organizations too .They do their fund raising in different capacities and support . I can think of 2 : dragon boating is for the peolple that had breast cancer ; one group in Vancouver, Canada (men’s clothing ) store organizes yearly a walk to support prostate cancer .
I will say , that I had breast cancer if the discussion comes up . Also treatment for one type of cancer different than for other . Same as in diabetes .
i also think that if we group everyone together as “diabetics” as a whole somewhere along the line you are going to have to break them into groups especially when it comes to treatment. people get confused as it is when they are diagnosed. imagine this…
person #1, a nine year old, and person #2, a 68 year old, come into the dr and the dr says "you both have diabetes but i want you to treat yourselves in different ways. person #2 asks why he is treating himself different if they both have just diabetes. the dr then explains the difference between the two and person #2 asks why the different types aren’t named different things, why are we both grouped together as having “diabetes” when the treatments can be soooo different.
like i said above, i don’t think you can get away with just telling everyone the are diabetic and leaving it at that. there will be way more confusion than there is now, with the types.
Well we could make a distinction: diabetic using insulin or not using insulin. Or add low carb or high carb diabetic. atheletic or non atheletic?
Anthony , I wish you were living in British Columbia referring to our May 12 Provincial Election …you would have a chance to get directly involved by( and easy to do ) e-mailing your candidates and express the CDA"s ASK . I went to an all Candidates Meeting last Thursday and verbally expressed the ASK to the 4 Candidates in my riding , including an one liner about me living with diabetes for over 26 years…They heard me . The CDA is well respected by the politicians . The audience applauded the ASK and the responses .
By the way I was a nervous wreck and got over it 
Yes in BC a diabetic should participate in politics. Here in Alberta it is totally pointless. We are thinking of moving health care here is going to collapse. My Endo talked to our minister of health and is really worried. We go to the Steven Harper town hall meetings probably also pointless.