A Journalist
A Producer
A Wanderer
A Ponderer
A Dreamer
A Thinker
A Gym Goer
A Cyclist
A Romantic
A Partner
A Sister
A Friend
A Listener
A Talker
A Blonde
A Writer
A Fun Lover
A Mischief Maker
An Eater
A Blogger
A Diabetic.
Yep, that’s me. Not all of me, but a lot of me. In a not-so nutshell.
I was on one of those endless Twitter scrolls last week. The ones that frustrate my other half because it inevitably means I’m not quite paying attention. Where browsing through one profile leads to the clicking on another, and then another. And so passes more of my time than is probably acceptable, stalking people I don’t even know and seeing if I can learn a thing or two about life in the process. It was on this infinite and mostly pointless virtual journey that I came across a tweet that was hopefully well-meaning, but made my innards turn well, inward.
This particular 140 character formation was lambasting the social media account of a programme for referring to people throughout the show as ‘type 1 diabetics’ rather than ‘people with diabetes’ (PWD). It wasn’t outright rude, but it was rather abrupt and quite accusatory, suggesting the former term was in error, and there was a generous use of exclamation marks. Angry exclamation marks are not the one.
Now, I can understand where this particular line of thought comes from. Living with diabetes is such a personal condition/experience/undertaking – many things, which are unique to each individual managing this each and every day. The diabetes community is individually rather split about how we as a collective are labelled. And thus the confusion for everyone begins.
I am diabetic. It’s factually accurate, I have diabetes, I’m a person with diabetes and I am also a diabetic. They’re all interchangeable to me because I don’t apply any more meaning to them aside from indicating a condition that I do indeed have. Being a diabetic is part of who I am, but it’s not all that I am, by a long stretch. Yes it’s a label, an identifier (and one that is much easier to use than ‘person with diabetes’) but since when did it become a negative one? In whose eyes? To me this is a construct, a connotation we’ve created ourselves, within the diabetes community. I’m absolutely happy to be called a person with diabetes, sure, because that’s accurate too. But I don’t agree with heaping this on the world as if it’s something we’ve all decided. It isn’t. Words are powerful, yes, but by applying negative connotations that are a construct of our own making, and confronting people who innocently refer to us using terminology that is factually accurate, we are enforcing those connotations instead of dismissing them as nothing but semantics. What the hell is the point?
Everyone is absolutely entitled to feel how they feel about their condition, but it’s a different thing to claim the offence for all diabetics, everywhere. Other people – like innocent social media managers (or more likely, poor interns) of networks minding twitter feeds, cannot be expected to grasp such intricacies of this condition, especially when we as a community differ from individual-to-individual in our views. If we choose to take offence at the perceived difference in meaning to any of these terms, we place negativity on one and not the other. It becomes a hierarchy where really, there need not be one. Now, if I was introduced as a diabetic I would be stunned. But I would also be stunned if I was introduced as a person with diabetes. But I believe that’s because in my day-to-day life I present myself as so much more before my diabetes.
We have a long way to go when it comes to educating people about our complex world, but, y’know, let’s pick our battles shall we? We have so many challenges on our hands, so many inaccuracies to overcome, untruths to reverse, awareness to raise, do we really need to put our precious energy into this one too? We are breaking barriers and changing futures through incredibly powerful and positive advocacy. We’ve accomplished so much by being passionate, and vocal, together. Which is INCREDIBLE. I’m front row and centre, with my foam finger and my pompoms there. But enforcing to a young (or older) person with diabetes that they should have a problem with being called diabetic feels like it creates more shame around the thing, instead of empowering someone to feel ok about life with this condition that wasn’t their choice in the first place. I know that I am a diabetic among many other things, and that being a diabetic is not what people immediately think of when they think of me. Scatty? Likely. Cheesy? Definitely. Indignant? Depends on the day.
As people, we are defined by our actions, our behaviour, our nature. A medical condition can sometimes help explain these actions and behaviours, but in what way and to what extent is very much down to the individual. It’s a label that’s not appropriate at times because it’s irrelevant, but there have been many occasions when this explainer has made me more human to others, not less. It’s made them stop for a minute and think about me as a human being, with human needs in this busy, impatient and distracted world.
‘I really need some sugar quite urgently dear stranger, I’m diabetic.’
‘Is it ok to use your toilet? I’m diabetic.’
‘I need to carry this suitcase of medical paraphernalia through security, I’m diabetic.’
‘Why am I cycling to Paris? I’m diabetic.’
‘I need to bring this carton of juice into your bar, I’m diabetic.’
To me, being a diabetic is an important part of who I am, and what I’ve become. I see being a diabetic as a positive thing, most of the time, because I’m proud of what I overcome each and every day while I’m busy like everyone else worrying about where I’m supposed to fit, what I’m supposed to achieve and what really, at the end of the day, any of this is actually about. So this might be just me, but I’m Jen, and I’m diabetic, a diabetic, a person with diabetes. And whichever one you choose to use, they all make me pretty bloody great.
The Ponderer ponders.
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