Thursday, April 3, 2014

The Triumphant Return to Ask For Your Aid!

It has been far too long.  I apologize.  I'll never take that long of a break from blogging again.

DMama's and T1D's, lend me your ears!  I have come asking for your assistance in everyone's favorite subject; advocating!

Background; this year, I'm taking a class called Social Problems.  Our 'final' for this class involves working at a non-profit organization, and then writing a paper talking about the specific social problems that particular organization deals with.  And this may surprise you, but I decided to look at the social problems surrounding T1D and it's misconceptions.

In many ways, I feel that the lack of knowledge and abundant misconceptions cause T1D to be a social problem.  How many times have you been asked 'can you eat that?'.  'Did you get diabetes because you ate too much sugar?'  'Why do you have your phone out in class?' (Even though insulin pumps look nothing like cell phones and a vast majority of them are attached to your body).  These questions are not always asked with negative intentions, but the more people who know about it the better.  And the best way to keep a person's attention is by story telling!

That's where you come in.  I need your help.  Either through comments or email, tell me your stories.  D Mama's - do you feel your child is treated differently now that they're T1D?  Do their teachers and peers really understand what they're going through?  Has there been a particular time you've had to lay down the law?  Diabetic kids and teens - do you think you're treated differently?  Is the lack of knowledge (if you feel there is any) about T1D a problem in society?  What is the most popular misconception about diabetes you want to take into the streets and smash with a hammer?  Adult T1D's - how is it dealing with T1D for so long?  Or if you're recently diagnosed; how do you think your life would have been effected if you'd been diagnosed as a child?

Guys, I'm so excited to write this paper.  My teacher is excited to read it.  Of course names will be changed and such, but I know these stories will be a great help. If you can, spread this around; the more stories the merrier!  I'm very excited to hear from you all, and can't wait to help spread the T1D word!

(I mean come on, sometimes we need to vent about the lack of T1D knowledge!)