Poster Child
I didn't ask for this disease - I'm guessing no one here did either! When I was diagnosed with D I didn't sign on to teach people about diabetes. I got a lot of judgment ("don't put sugar in your tea!") and weird pity from people I worked with. So I went "undercover" and I'm just now starting to tell people that I know.
But I think that's my right. I don't want to be a poster child, I don't want to have to explain what diabetes is, what is the difference between Types 1 and 2, why it's okay for me to eat a piece of bread, etc. Even my in-laws wanted to talk and talk and talk and talk about diabetes until I had to ask them to please not ask me about it! I have a lot of hobbies and interests, so let's talk about something interesting, let's not talk about how cinnamon can "cure" diabetes, ok?
It's great if you are interested in educating the general public about D, but please don't expect me to. Please don't expect me to be excited about the prospect of people seeing my ID bracelet and asking me what's "wrong" with me. Don't expect me to wear an ID bracelet to a job interview. Even the most compassionate people are going to have reservations about hiring the person with "health problems" when choosing between two equally qualified people.
This is just me venting.
But I think that's my right. I don't want to be a poster child, I don't want to have to explain what diabetes is, what is the difference between Types 1 and 2, why it's okay for me to eat a piece of bread, etc. Even my in-laws wanted to talk and talk and talk and talk about diabetes until I had to ask them to please not ask me about it! I have a lot of hobbies and interests, so let's talk about something interesting, let's not talk about how cinnamon can "cure" diabetes, ok?
It's great if you are interested in educating the general public about D, but please don't expect me to. Please don't expect me to be excited about the prospect of people seeing my ID bracelet and asking me what's "wrong" with me. Don't expect me to wear an ID bracelet to a job interview. Even the most compassionate people are going to have reservations about hiring the person with "health problems" when choosing between two equally qualified people.
This is just me venting.
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Comment by Tim on June 24, 2010 at 11:46am -
I don't use the "poster child" analogy, I usually use the "after school special" analogy :-). Maybe you aren't old enough to remember "after school specials", they were TV shows always with a little bit of drama/story and lot of moral or awareness education.
I don't usually mind the continual education I have to do but yes, sometimes I really get sick of being expected to educate the world, and just want to deal with myself for a change. I think some other posters to tudiabetes would probably benefit from not trying to change/educate the world too.
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Comment by Michael Hoskins on June 24, 2010 at 12:50pm -
That's the right we all have. I laid low for most of my teen years, but really never avoided the topic much if it came up. Didn't really get into advocating until college when I was doing philanthropy work, and then not again until my late 20s. But even when advocating now, there's times when I just want to be left alone and not have D be the topic to talk about all the time. Good luck with your non-poster childing! We're all part of the Diabetes Community together, in whatever way is needed.
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Comment by LavanderBlue on June 24, 2010 at 3:36pm -
i was discriminated 2 times for a job, because of my diabetes.
Not to mention the constant lonelyness cause men are also affraid to date me!
:(
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