Tag: diabetes is not a punchline

One of the responses I see every time I reblog something related to diabetes and go through the notes is something along the lines of, “Get over it! It’s not bad at all (or not as bad as X)!”

iamananglerfish:

I’m going to ignore that that’s derailing and that intersectionality is a thing.

There really is nothing like having a disease that has a stigma, though.

And there really is nothing like never being able to completely relax and having to monitor every single thing your body does when that illness is chronic.

I think, more than anything though, diabetes jokes are proof that people don’t want people who are either fat or chronically ill to “just be healthy.”

It’s proof that people are pieces of shit who just want something to laugh at.

That stigma does affect my life. It doesn’t just make me feel shitty or contribute to my anxiety. It doesn’t just cause some people to look at me with disgust. It influences the reactions that people have when they find out I’m diabetic and affects whether or not they’ll be willing to help me if I’m in medical trouble and need their (a stranger’s) help. I can’t tell you how many times my knees have buckled in public and I’ve been unable to walk, move, or talk and almost died because my blood sugar went low due to unforeseeable circumstances. The pervasive attitudes about diabetes — that it’s either my fault or that it’s NOT a serious illness — contribute TREMENDOUSLY to the amount of help I may be able to get and whether or not I’ll live if I’m not able to help myself.

I don’t know how people don’t see that.

Bolded for emphasis.

There & Back Again: Here’s a short lesson for you:Someone posts a picture of a food item…

mskassinova:

ministerr-for-magic:

Here’s a short lesson for you:

Someone posts a picture of a food item that has a high sugar count. They tag it ‘diabetes’ because they mistakenly think sugar causes Diabetes. Diabetics who roam the tag then proceed to let that person know they did wrong. Of the following options, which do you…

To help you put it into perspective: Someone kicks you in the shin once by accident. You say “ow”, accept an apology and leave it at that. Someone kicks you in the shin for the thousandth time, accident or not, and you say “WHAT IN THE FUCKING CHRIST, YOU CLUMSY ASSHOLE.” I’ve stopped feeling sorry for the ignorant. And not just about diabetes. Willful ignorance isn’t an accident, it’s a choice.

The thing about most of the people who tag sugary or fatty foods with #diabetes? Saying anything, polite or otherwise, is not going to make them see that what they did was ignorant, hurtful, and continuing the spread of misinformation under the guise of “joking.” Because to them, that’s all it is: a joke. Because most of the time? It doesn’t affect them, and often times it doesn’t affect anyone they know and love, and because they’ve bought into the ideas that diabetes is caused by too much sugar or by eating to much and not exercising. They don’t want to know about the truth about diabetes, because they don’t see a need for the information. Because, clearly, only people who have diabetes need to know anything about diabetes.

There & Back Again: Here’s a short lesson for you:Someone posts a picture of a food item…

PSA: Because I wanted to put it out there in its own post.

Note: I will be using the general “you” in this mini-rant.

Just because you know someone who has a chronic condition or other serious, life-threatening and/or life altering disease, it does not give you a free pass to make jokes about it. Especially when these “jokes” promote ignorance and misinformation about the condition/disease.

If the person/people that you know personally make jokes about their condition, that is okay for them to do; it is their condition. They live with it day in and day out.

If the person/people that you know personally allow you to join in in making these jokes, that is okay for you to do around them. Because they have given you that permission.

There are probably a lot of other people in the world who have the same disease/condition that people you know who have given you permission to joke about their condition with them have. These people that you do not know have not given you permission to joke about their condition/disease. There is a good chance that they might find your “jokes” offensive, harmful, and/or ignorant. It is not their problem if your “jokes” offend them. It’s yours.

Just because someone you know personally is okay with it does not give you a “Get Out of Being Called Out for Doing Something Ignorant, Harmful, Hurtful, and Offensive Free” card. It just doesn’t work that way. And “I’m sorry you were offended” is NOT an apology; it’s an insult, really. Because you are saying, with that fauxpology, that what you said is not offensive (with the implication that no one should ever find it offensive, because it’s “just a joke,” right?) when it’s pretty damn clear that yes, yes it was offensive. And it will probably make the person you offended think even less of you as a human being.

This should not be as hard to understand as it clearly is.

therandomnessthatismymind:

notdiabetes:

therandomnessthatismymind:

notdiabetes:

binarybabey:

Dawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. This is so cute it gave me diabetes. :3

Why in gods name would you associate cuteness and diabetes? You do realize what diabetes is, right? Infections, hospitalizations, syringes, bleeding… doesn’t sound very cute to me.

WHOAH calm down.. you don’t need to get so angry. She didn’t mean it in an offensive way. We both are in a sorority where over 50% of our girls have diabetes, so we know that it’s not a walk in the park, it was just a figure of speech.

Whoa, it’s almost like intent isn’t magic and you can be offensive without meaning to be! (On that note, just because you know diabetics doesn’t mean anything in cases like this)

See, but we watch them go through those struggles and make this joke all the time (literally, this joke is said all the time). Because they can live their life without dwelling on the fact that they have a disease. We do not need anyone to criticize something we hear from diabetics all the time. I understand where you’re coming from, but I also want to show you our side. It was a little thing, I’m sorry if it offended you.

Addressing the bolded part. You may hear these jokes from the diabetics you know and hang out with, and if they allow you to participate in these jokes, that is fine when it’s around them. Because they have fairly clearly given you permission to joke about it with them.

Note the emphasis there. Just because the diabetics you know personaly are okay with these jokes does not mean that other diabetics are okay with these jokes. A lot of diabetics find these jokes annoying, ignorant, and harmful. If a diabetic finds these jokes offensive, they have ever right to tell you, “That’s not funny.”

Because unlike a diabetic, a non-diabetic does not live diabetes, and does not get a free pass to make jokes about the disease just because they know someone who is okay with the joking.

The “my friend/family member is a diabetic, so I can do this” is a really, really annoying excuse.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

goddessofcheese:

thedailywhat:

You Are What You Eat of the Day: Speaking out on this morning’s Today Show about the reaction that followed the revelation that she suffers from type-2 diabetes, Butter Queen Paula Deen told Al Roker that “a few people were kind of mean about it and hold it against me.”

Deen announced on the Today Show in January that she was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes three years ago, but did not explain her reasoning for keeping the diagnosis to a secret.

Critics took issue with her proactive promotion of fatty, butter-rich foods — which continued despite her illness — and a shady endorsement deal she signed with diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk shortly before her announcement.

Deen’s long-time publicist Nancy Assuncao quit immediately following the launch of her employer’s Novo Nordisk-sponsored “Diabetes in a New Light” campaign.

Responding to disapproval of her actions, Deen told the Today Show she has “always encouraged moderation,” and reiterated her previous comment to Oprah: “Honey, I’m your cook, not your doctor.”

[today.]

Team Dean, idgaf.

THIS. What a diabetic cooks, eats, or does not cook, or does not eat, is nobody’s business but theirs. Their diabetes management is between them and their doctor, not between them and every non-diabetic under the sun (or even other diabetic–every diabetic’s body reacts differently to things because of variations in things like body chemistry and genetics).

More power to her. Haters to the left.

(Source: http://download.macromedia.com/)

It’s nobody’s business, y’all

So apparently Paula Deen has had Type 2 diabetes for three years and has only just gone public with this.

Considering her show is based around butter, high fat, and high carb food, lots of  people are are putting their Judgment Hats on.

My take on this:

1) Paula Deen was under no obligation to come forward with the fact that she has Type 2 diabetes. It’s her health, what goes on with her health is between her and her doctor of choice. It is nobody else’s business, full stop.

2) Fat shaming is bad. I am not going NEAR the comment sections of any postings of this news story, because they will likely be filled with two main things: fat shaming and misinformed Type 2 shaming. And probably a big helping of “lol, only fat people get diabetes.” These are things that make me want to flip tables.

3) There is nothing wrong with high fat/high carb food IN MODERATION as a diabetic. If you are eating it 24/7 without lower fat/lower carb alternatives thrown into the mix, you’re probably going to have some problems. But what a diabetic eats? It’s their business, not the business of every single non-diabetic who happens to know they have diabetes. Seriously, if you know a diabetic, don’t ask them “Are you allowed to eat that?/Should you be eating that?” It’s none of your business and it gets really old really fast.

4) Apparently she’s also doing more health conscious, diabetes-friendly versions of her other recipes. This is a good thing. Apparently she may be getting some money from adds that link to a site with info for a drug that is used to treat Type 2. People are kind of pissy about that last bit. Because she’s making money off something she wasn’t being honest about. Again, no one with diabetes is obligated to disclose to the public that they have diabetes (it is a good idea to disclose this medical fact to teachers, school officials, and employers so they will know what to do if you pass out or something; also, if you let them know, you also should let them know that diabetes is covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which means a diabetic cannot be discriminated against because of their diabetes).

5) I don’t really care how Paula Deen handles her own diabetes. I’m glad she’s handling it, and it’s no one else’s business how she handles it.

6) I am just annoyed that, because Paula Deen is Paula Deen, there is likely to be an influx of diabetes-used-as-a-punchline-ness. Diabetics do not need this, and the only people who, in my opinion, have any right to debate Deens diabetic reveal are people with diabetes. They live with it everyday, and they have to deal with the way the media handles anything to do with the disease. If there are diabetics who are pissed at Deen for knowing she had Type 2 and continuing to push her high fat/high carb food, then I totally understand their anger/annoyance. Non-diabetics? Not their business.

I don’t get this a lot, thankfully, largely because I don’t end up eating around non-family much these days. My usual response when I do/have gotten it is, “I can eat anything in moderation.”

Because I can. If eating any sugar at all would kill me, I’d be way screwed because most foods have some amount of some kind of sugar in them. But diabetes Does Not Work That Way. It’s sad, the number of people in the world who are under the impression that it does. When I hadn’t been diagnosed for long, I had a classmate’s mom–who was not a medical professional or nutritionist–try to “educate” me and my mother about what veggies are or are not loaded with carbs (hint: tomatoes and carrots are not that loaded in carbs; potatoes, on the other hand, are).

So yes, people who ask this question: You may mean well, but it’s really, really annoying, and frankly none of you business.