So tired of the blame game
Whenever there is a news story about health care, you always get the letters to the newspaper from people who have bright ideas about how to "fix" the health care system. These ideas are usually along the lines of "make people who cause their own diseases pay for it themselves." And by "people who cause their own diseases" they almost always mean "people with diabetes."
I constantly see people with diabetes being labelled as "fat" "lazy" "eat too much" "junk food junkies" "sit on the couch all day" etc. etc. The newspaper itself doesn't help. Every week there's a news story about diabetes that immediately mentions obesity, or a news story about obesity that immediately mentions diabetes. No one distinguishes between the different types. They do not mention genetics. They do not mention that not all cases of Type 2 are caused by obesity. They never mention Type 1, unless it's in relation to a JDRF fundraiser put on for children with diabetes, who of course magically are cured of their diabetes as soon as they turn 19 years old. And they always call it "juvenile" diabetes.
I am so sick of this that I want to take out full-page newspaper ads that proclaim in big print what the differences are between the different types of diabetes. I want to buy huge billboards -- except billboards aren't allowed in my city -- and post pictures on them of skinny people who have diabetes. I have written dozens of letters to my local newspaper in the last few years. I write one every time there is a news story that mentions obesity + diabetes without mentioning that there is more than one type. But nothing ever changes.
I constantly see people with diabetes being labelled as "fat" "lazy" "eat too much" "junk food junkies" "sit on the couch all day" etc. etc. The newspaper itself doesn't help. Every week there's a news story about diabetes that immediately mentions obesity, or a news story about obesity that immediately mentions diabetes. No one distinguishes between the different types. They do not mention genetics. They do not mention that not all cases of Type 2 are caused by obesity. They never mention Type 1, unless it's in relation to a JDRF fundraiser put on for children with diabetes, who of course magically are cured of their diabetes as soon as they turn 19 years old. And they always call it "juvenile" diabetes.
I am so sick of this that I want to take out full-page newspaper ads that proclaim in big print what the differences are between the different types of diabetes. I want to buy huge billboards -- except billboards aren't allowed in my city -- and post pictures on them of skinny people who have diabetes. I have written dozens of letters to my local newspaper in the last few years. I write one every time there is a news story that mentions obesity + diabetes without mentioning that there is more than one type. But nothing ever changes.