Stigma is everywhere, we have to educate

Starting the day reading this ridiculous comments makes us realize, there is SO much work to be done.

:frowning:

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I can’t even fathom how any educated person could state this, much less someone in government. Then again, if aliens invaded earth looking for intelligent lifeforms, I’m pretty sure they’d steer clear of Washington, DC.

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I’m so disappointed with all this. It is hard to beleive that we are living this craziness. :anguished:

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It seems we have a lot of work to do.
I am assuming that all non-profits in the diabetes world will try to get in touch and explain this person what diabetes is. :frowning:

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These people are monsters. There is never money for healthcare and if you get sick it’s your own damn fault, but they’re happy to spend taxpayer money on things like inquiries to investigate non-existent voter fraud and prosecuting/jailing people for non-violent drug offences.

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Those are just the very short highlights! There have been so many frivolous multi-million dollar investigations and inquiries… As well as stupid projects, useless agencies, etc. Billions that could be better spent on many REAL issues, with Healthcare being a huge portion of that!

And yes, we have a LOT of advocacy and education work to do! How many billions have been spent on Healthcare to treat cancers that have been clearly caused by cigarette smoking – another health problem that could be blamed on the patient – YET, investigations (useful ones, this time) proved the culpability of the tobacco industry for having deliberately increased the addiction-impacting aspects of their product and for their marketing techniques. In that light (pardon the pun), no one can be said to have picked up a cigarette thinking, “Gee, I’ll give myself a cancer, so the community can pay for my healthcare.” They are not to blame and need healthcare.

Whether or not there are actions that people can take to avoid any kind of diabetes is completely immaterial. NO PATIENT is at fault for “giving themselves” diabetes. Did some people “sit at home and eat” and get diabetes? Yes. But what made them do that? Depression? It could be a symptom of diabetes. Tiredness? Same thing. Loss of hunger management? Could also be an early symptom. As has been said many times (and I’ve been starting to see in some medical articles), association is not equal to causation. Obesity has been recognized as a DISEASE - does it ‘cause’ diabetes? OR does diabetes cause obesity? OR is one a symptom or complication, if you wish, of the other? OR does something else entirely cause both!? (I’m inclined to believe the last option.)

Funny, in a recent encounter with the regular “Type 2 diabetes gets all the attention on TV what about Type 1?” complaint (and subsequent debate - please don’t start it here :slight_smile:), I thought, "What’s the question? TV is a marketing media primarily. People with Type 2 outnumber people with all other types of diabetes by at least 10:1 - and probably more than 20:1 – AND: The generally accepted myth is that “most people” with Type 2 got it by being lazy and sedentary. What are sedentary folks thought to do? WATCH TV all day! OF COURSE they cater to that market - they think that IS their market!

Yes - lots of work to be done!

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Lets not the government forget their own role in what is the type 2 health care crisis. For years and to some extend ongoing the government has advocated a high carb diet which is the root of the problem.

Some say they took the lead from the health care nutritionist but they also bowed to pressure from the farm lobby to further promotion of high carb farm products.

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… Plus the impact of the car culture. Plus the disappearance of phys ed from schools. Plus the driving need (pardon the pun) to drive your kids to school so they don’t get kidnapped. Plus the explosion of devices that keep people indoors and inactive instead of outdoors and active. Plus the domination of crappy fast-food chains. Plus the fact fries are included but salad costs extra. Plus, plus, plus.

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Snarky comment: I could get behind this IF it applied equally to elected representatives and their families.

Serious comment: stupidity of this magnitude boggles the mind. Are these people even remotely conscious of the number of votes represented by those 29 million people and their families and friends? Evidently not.

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The comments on the Facebook post of the ADA’s response to Mulvaney is an excellent example of why the stigma is so persuasive. Numerous comments agreeing that T2 is self-induced & many of those coming from people who should know better. I’m not convinced it will ever change.

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Additional snarky comment: If that logic says we shouldn’t provide support for people with diabetes, then the same logic dictates that we must not provide it for people with lung cancer. Or people with heart disease who cannot prove that they exercise regularly. Etc. Etc. Etc. Can’t have it both ways.

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The list goes on and on: gout, NFLD, ANY ailment at all involving heart, liver, digestion, if the person is a known alcoholic, AND sport-related injury, unless the person can prove that they followed all recommended training and safety measures. Any automobile injury or related ailment unless there is positive proof that there was no fault whatsoever by the injured person. Heck, childhood diseases unless parents can prove they took all precautions to prevent exposure to their kids.

I think a better approach is to make EVERY elected official and EVERY appointed government official have to vie for the same insurance options as every other citizen – with the same scrutiny they support.

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I wrote this comment a few months back in a related thread.

Yes, we do have to educate. I think it would help us to engage some allies in the popular culture. People of similar influence as Jimmy Kimmel would help our cause a lot.

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Well, if celebrity can be used to peddle nonsense, such as the bilge that Halle Berry was spreading a few years ago, I don’t see why it can’t be used just as well to disseminate the truth. Sauce for the goose, and all that.

HA, little does he know I got my diabetes at Disney World. Since I will be in the high-risk pool I am contemplating suing Mickey for future health insurance costs. Sure that sounds funny, but wait until Minnie finds out. Micky is going to have some explaining to do.

By the way, I just wanted to visit Tomorrow Land.

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Looks like Mulvaney deserves to get all known varieties of diabetes at once, including gestational diabetes, although that variety is VERY uncommon for men.

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I’m glad I’m not the only one talking about this, I just made a post about it and asked a few other things.

This time hearing someone talk about it, and that comment just really got to me, and I’d love to sit down a school him and so many others, it’s so unreal.

My mind is just a scramble.

I hate to say but you could spend a year “trying” to teach him and those like him about it but it would be for nothing. The only thing that would make him understand would be for someone “in his bubble” to get diabetes and then it would “burst his bubble of ignorance”.

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