Apr 21, 2015
WEGO blog challenge Day 21 - 'Reflection' #HAWMC
This is a day to reflect. For the WEGO Health family, we reflect on the inspiring and tireless work Health Activists do every day. Reflect on your journey today. What are your thoughts and hopes for the future?
About six years ago, I went from gathering information to help with my Wife and diabetes, to advocating as strong as I could.
One of the things that always bothered me was the infighting among those in the Diabetic Online Community (DOC) about which form of diabetes is the most important to be advocating for. This proved to do nothing short of turning off the advocating that "Type" fighting should have brought together the DOC. Instead, it tore us apart. To be clear, the line between us splintered awareness, research, education into groups. I am happy to say that this "Type" fight has dwindled. We know now that advocating for ONE Disease as ONE Voice, we will get to the cure faster.
I also used to keep daily statistics on how many times both the terms "diabetes" and "diabetic" popped up in various Google searches. Why you ask? The disparity was huge when I first started. I am happy to say the line has narrowed and we see less fighting on this topic today.
This IS important as we keep advocating for all of us affected by diabetes using ONE Voice to do so. It is noteworthy because we see much less distractions between the two Terms which allows a stronger Voice as we move forward.
We must remember that behind every diagnosis of diabetes is a PERSON, NOT a Term. As diabetes keeps showing as a pandemic, it also affects every person on the planet, as a trickle down effect of how diabetes infects our community everywhere we turn.
So as I reflect on my advocating I am pleased we are understanding that the ONE Voice needed is for all of us,
ONE Disease, ONE World, ONE Voice. Let's get busy...
