We Are All Ambassadors

I continue to be amazed at how little the general population knows about diabetes. In conversation, there is almost never a distinction made between Type I and Type II diabetes, and for the most part, people don't ask much out of fear of appearing ignorant.

Diabetes is largely painted with a broad brush as a "lifestyle disease" which carries a stigma of sloth and irresponsibility - a kind of "you brought this on yourself" mentality. And yet, those same people so quick to pass judgment without having any real knowledge usually don't even know their own risk factors and are hardly exemplary in their own behavior. We can't make them wrong for not knowing much - particularly if their life hasn't been touched by this illness - but it is so common now that diabetes really should be part of the 'cultural conversation' of our time.

Whether we like it or not, diabetes affects us all - whether directly through our own health, or through our pocketbooks by the escalating costs to our health care system.

So what can we do, as people with diabetes, to build awareness and understanding about our disease?

• Take every opportunity you can to EDUCATE! Make it OK for people to ask questions and be open to talk about what diabetes is and isn't.
• MAKE RESPONSIBLE CHOICES. You are a representative of our diabetes community and people watch what you do and form opinions. Where you shop, how you fuel your body, how you prepare your meals, and your commitment to exercise all impact people around you. By seeing your commitment to health, others will be inspired by your example of living well. That opens a conversation about diabetes prevention, which we should each be evangelizing!

We cannot leave the responsibility of prevention & education entirely to the CDA. Each of us needs to step up and be an ambassador of this disease, making it OK to have the diagnosis and actually being empowered by it.

Remember when knowing your cholesterol numbers was the big thing everyone talked about? We need to do the same thing for HbA1C! The more diabetes becomes part of our common dialogue, the greater our opportunity to be understood as a community and our condition taken seriously.

Bottom line? Know your stuff, share what you know, and be part of the solution for this epidemic.

Cheers and a Smile,