News

Week 2: ACT
Tuesday, November 9

News – Thanks to American Diabetes Month®, diabetes has been in the headlines this week.  Did you see any diabetes articles that were interesting? Inspiring? Frustrating? While there’s no controlling what the media says, what topics would you cover if you were a reporter?

When you Google "Diabetes" under "News," there are many, many stories that come up that have been posted in the last several days.  Popular topics in the headlines include research and advancements in Diabetes detection and care, symptoms and risk factors for the disease, new drugs, and even smartphone apps designed especially for Diabetes management.

While I'm glad to see that Diabetes is making the news, I wish the awareness wave would reach mainstream media a bit more.  Right now, it seems more of an underground movement than the tidal wave I believe it needs to be in order to truly raise awareness of the disease.  There are so many misconceptions about Diabetes that could easily be cleared up, if only the media would take the time and initiative to focus on the subject.  Even though two of my immediate family members were diagnosed two to four years before I was, I really knew very little about the disease until I personally ended up with it.

I think that American Diabetes Month is a wonderful way to get all of this across, and I'm thankful to the American Diabetes Association for taking the initiative to publicize these important issues.  It will take every one of us with the disease, and those who love us, as well as all of the medical experts and researchers in the field, to make this movement a success.  It doesn't matter if you can't donate money, because many of us (myself included) are in that same boat.  All we need is your voice and your time.  It only takes one person to plant a seed that grows into something much bigger, and all of us are capable of doing something to spread the word.

It's as simple as going to the following link to download a "StopDiabetes" badge or widget to post to Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter (or, if you don't use social networking, your email signature!) for the month of November (and beyond!).  http://stopdiabetes.diabetes.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SD_tools

And, as always, you can go to StopDiabetes.com to find other ways that you can help!