Speaking of World Diabetes Day, coming up November 14, I discovered this cool series of YouTube videos that the International Diabetes Federation has been pumping out to catch people’s attention. They’re short and evocative, all supporting the slogan “Understand Diabetes, Get Involved.”
For example, this bit on “how many people have diabetes worldwide?” Do you know the number? I didn’t offhand, either:
Or this one, reminding folks to never let neuropathy sneak up on them (as Dr. Steven Edelman reminded us here recently):
Or this one — by far my favorite — entitled “Blue Circle = diabetes symbol.” How many of your friends and family are aware that diabetes is even trying to have a universally recognized symbol of awareness?
The blue circle lapel pins, btw, seem to STILL be only available for purchase at the IDF’s online shop — in the format of a 10-pack priced in Euros (€30.25). This sucks, with World Diabetes Day just 2-1/2 months away.
So frustrating! Why is it that we can’t buy these pins anywhere in the United States? At the very least, you’d think you could order them directly from the JDRF and the ADA…? It seems crazy to me that these US organizations are so far removed from the great work IDF is doing to raise global awareness of our illness.
It was Christopher Thomas, founder of the NY-based DiabeticRockstar community who brought this point home at this summer’s Diabetes Social Media Summit: we need to unite under one symbol if we want the public to recognize and care about diabetes as a cause. “The ADA site is what, red, like blood? — while the JDRF is blue, but doesn’t promote blue circle either,” he pointed out.
Even among patients who are active online, I’ve seen folks puzzling about the awareness symbol, and whether our main color is red or gray: “The most common color I found for diabetes awareness ribbons when I Googled it was gray.”
I personally hate that gray ribbon with the blood droplet. Yuck. Those colors say nothing but gloom and blood, to me.
And here’s the rub: Even on the web site of the American Diabetes Association (by far the most-visited diabetes site in the country) a searches for the terms “awareness pin,” “global symbol,” and “blue circle” produce ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
When I search there for “World Diabetes Day,” all I get is the link to two nearly identical press releases from 2008 and 2009, stating that “The American Diabetes Association Supports the Worldwide Global Efforts Surrounding World Diabetes Day” — and then going on to toot its own horn about work that the non-profit ADA does here in the US. Nada on IDF or the blue circle.
I ran the same searches over at the JDRF web site, and came up with just two items: a 2006 statement recognizing the 2006 UN Resolution issued that year, and one brief announcement about World Diabetes Day from three years ago.
What is going on here? Why aren’t these advocacy organizations better aligned? I think it’s good that they’re calling upon us patients to understand our illness, and get involved. At the same time, I think we should call upon them to “understand us patients, and get united in your efforts!”
, Get Involved)
Speaking of WDD….this is atrocious and needs some attention.
NOW.
http://www.candyheartsblog.com/2010/08/we-interrupt-this-program.html
But, yeah….we need to get everyone on the same page and sporting the BLUE CIRCLE!
I say that someone in the DOC, whomever it may be, should order a bucketload of the pins and start the movement. Why can’t WE, the DOC start it? I’m tired of always waiting for ADA and JDRF to take the lead sometimes.
Through the WDDUSA site we will make sure to get enough blue circles this year to send to a few people in cities around the US, who can become the go-to people to get this passed around.
Can we also talk about what an epic mistake the “cost you a leg” video is?
(see also http://sixuntilme.com/blog2/2010/08/what_is_the_best_motivator.html)
I’m with Sara, I am absolutely disgusted by the “cost you a leg” video. Diabetes awareness needs to be spread using support and encouragement, not scare tactics and shock value.
Everyone of us should contribute a little to bring awareness. We don’t have to always wait for ADA or JDRF to initiate this.
The scare tactics used in the “cost you a leg” video makes me shy away from any WDD efforts this year. Instead of scaring people at risk of type 2 diabetes away, we should be educating them how life doesn’t end with an earlier type 2 diabetes diagnosis. That regular screening if any risk factors apply does help avoid complications by catching diabetes sooner rather than later.
mostly being facetious here, but maybe the reason is somehow related to why soccer in the US hasn’t caught on as much as every other place on the planet! US organizations perhaps tend not to look outward.
The JDRF Advocacy Program is planning a Type-1 Talk http://juvenation.org/blogs/advocacy/archive/2010/08/19/bringing-type-1-talk-to-your-doorstep-november-14.aspx on WDD. They were originally planning to do that on Nov 6, but changed to the date to Nov 14.
I agree that their outreach efforts have been seriously lacking on WDD but maybe this is a sign that things are changing. I recently had a long conversation with the JDRF Grassroots Advocacy Director which will be the topic of a 2-part post during Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week which is Sept 13 – 17
Hmm, while I do agree that scare tactics are generally a turn-off, I also believe there are lots of T2 folks out there who really don’t take their D seriously — i.e. in denial about the real risks of complications. For example, I sure wish some of my own family members had taken their diabetes more seriously earlier on…
Maybe we should just start using pink? There’s more of us than there are of them, right? We can take ‘em lol.
I like the idea of bringing the pins to the states, but I don’t think having a member of the DOC do it is very feasable…I just don’t see any individual or small organization have ten to fifteen grand lying around to make that sort of investment.
The reason that we are “waiting on the large organizations” like one poster said is because those larger orgs, JDRF and ADA, have the money and resources to make a difference. The fact is that you can combine the fundraising efforts of organizations like Diabetic Rockstar, Diabetes Hand Foundation, Diabetes Sisters, etc etc etc and it wouldn’t even be a small fraction of what JDRF and ADA bring in each QUARTER. We rely and “wait” on them because–although we could do it without them–having them on board gives the diabetic community a powerful ally…even if they are self-serving, stubborn, greedy and lost as far as what people really need from them.
I am not sure how many of the people currently involved in the DOC realize how the Gray Ribbon came to be. I know gray is not the most attractive color, but there was a logic behind it when we were debating the ribbon (and yes, I was “there” — so to speak). Perhaps a little history is in order?
The Gray Ribbon started online. It was a grassroots effort from a group of us on CompuServe’s Diabetes Forum who were frustrated by the lack of a symbol to help raise awareness of diabetes. Red for AIDS, pink for breast cancer, but nothing for diabetes?? ARGH! We debated a variety of colors, but most were taken. Why gray with a red gem? The forum’s founder (and by my account, the founder of the DOC in general) wrote a manifesto with his thoughts about why a gray ribbon was appropriate and which can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/2cblrja. One of the best explanations for the color choice was written by Dr. Arlene Shapiro, a SYSOP on the forum: “Diabetes is not a cheerful disease. The ribbon can be either gray or silver. While gray depicts the despair and gloom so prevalent in those affected by this disease, silver (polished gray) represents the “lining” or the hope that there will soon be a cure.” (http://drarlenes.tripod.com/faq.htm)
After the color was chosen, many started creating ribbons, some by the hundreds, and then the question became what to do with them. That was answered quickly when one member, who was on the Board of Directors of the JDFI (now JDRF) went to a meeting in Athens, Greece, and dumped hundreds of handmade ribbons on the conference table (see here: http://tinyurl.com/249jace). The people she met with were very impressed with the determination of the ribbon makers and as a result, the JDRF adopted the ribbon. For a few years, they sold a gray ribbon tie tack (and Bill Clinton actually wore one while signing a diabetes-related bill), but the drive for the ribbon petered out rather quickly.
Still, the ribbon has persisted. It is a true grassroots symbol, created by a relatively small group of people who were frustrated and angry that a disease that impacts as many people as diabetes gets so little recognition. It was our expression of fears of our disease and our hope for the future.
I like Penny’s idea about the DOC taking the reigns on promoting the blue circle, and Manny’s idea to make them available, although I admit it’s aggravating that it’s up to us. The last point, “understand us patients, and get united in your efforts!”, really says it all. The whole symbol issue stinks of the territorialism that has pervaded diabetes advocacy organizations, and only served to undermine the needs of the diabetes community and patients.
As for the “cost you a leg” ad, I’m totally with you on that. It’s been my experience that too many T2′s seem to grossly underestimate diabetes. It’s certainly not all of them, but when anyone talks about having a “touch of sugar” or whatever, it’s alarming. I left a long comment in response to Kerri’s post about that ad, and I feel compelled to write my own post about it because I feel like an opposing point of view needs to be expressed. Therefore, I won’t be redundant here, but overall, I’ve disagreed with what appears to be a consensus response to it. I don’t think the ad is out of line, and I think it brings up a lot of interesting issues regarding awareness campaigns, and how a lot of different people have a lot of different needs, so not every ad is going to address the needs of us all.
A couple of years ago, I ordered a batch of 10 pins at my own expense and passed them out to people I knew who had diabetes or who needed to show diabetes awareness in their jobs (such as my doctor, who wears several awareness pins on her white lab coat). They took about a week to arrive by mail.
The issues with the pins is that they are single-source (through the DRI), making them expensive (about twice the price of the red dress pins I order through the NHLBI) — in part because they are single-source and ship from Europe, and because there’s no option for bulk ordering — and there is only one choice for which diabetes programs you wish your money to support (as an example, I would be more likely to support outreach efforts in at-risk communities in the US than Life for a Child).
Amy, do you know who ‘owns’ the rights to the blur circle as a symbol of diabetes? Is that IDF? If not, why can’t ‘we’ get a company to make the damn pins?
As for the gray ribbon… I’m sorry, but yuck, yuck and more yuck. Yuck says gloom and doom and somewhere between black and white to me. What does it say to other people? That we should all be sad? Heck with that. The blue circle to me says hope and unity and community and the wholeness that is within each of us with diabetes. I’m a blue circle gal all the way and as for my 8 year old T1 gal – make her blue too. There ain’t no gray here in this family, living and thriving with T1.
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