Campaigns

Time to Rethink National Diabetes Week?

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As I watched the response towards an amputation-themed National Diabetes Week escalate late last week, I’ve been thinking about my own stance on Diabetes Australia’s campaign. I made my opinion clear though my vlog last Monday (which you can watch here), and have steered clear from most of the conversation since. While it was disappointing to see some of the commentary getting out of hand, it will not make me feel any less guilty for having an opinion of my own. 

Diabetes Australia advocates for the language used when talking about diabetes, and for the way it has the power to shape our thoughts, beliefs and behaviours. I support this wholeheartedly – both online and off. To quote Diabetes Australia’s Language Position Statement:

“Language needs to engage people with diabetes and support their daily self-care efforts. Importantly, language that de-motivates or induces fear, guilt or distress needs to be avoided and countered.”

I can’t help but feel that a campaign focussing on diabetes amputations does induce fear, guilt and distress, and contradicts this language position statement. Two diabetes educators in our community even went further to suggest this:

“In my practice I’ll be working with newly diagnosed and people who have had diabetes for years and dealing with the heightened anxiety that comes from the strong messaging around this. Powerful messaging can do more harm than good and many people choosing this style of awareness campaign are often not at the clinical coal face dealing with the aftermath” – Ann Morris, Facebook.

“Diabetes distress is real and palpable when people talk about their fear of complications – especially in relation to the fear of foot or leg amputation. Fear is further fuelled by the negative campaign being run in this year’s Diabetes Awareness Week. We shouldn’t be surprised if they disengage about their risk or move to a default mode of thinking that they are ‘here for a good time not a long time’, then adopting behaviours that increase complication risk.” – Jayne Lehmann, Ed Health Australia.

Diabetes Australia admirably responded to some of the criticisms of the campaign in a Facebook post on Friday afternoon, which you can read here.

Diabetes Australia were campaigning for a Diabetes Amputation Prevention Initiative from our government to help prevent 85% of diabetes related amputations each year through early detection and proper care. We were also told that the campaign was not really about the person with diabetes, but to help make the broader public more aware of this issue.

While I don’t doubt the seriousness of this issue, I do question whether a very public National Diabetes Week campaign was the appropriate avenue for this lobbying. People don’t know enough about diabetes. People don’t know enough about what it is, what it entails, and how to best support those of us living with the condition. This was supposed to be our week, where we raise awareness and be proud of the condition we live with. A campaign focussing only on one issue – a negative one – does not achieve this. It only creates stigma.

I blogged about National Diabetes Week positively. I vocalised my feelings about the campaign with those around me. I enthusiastically followed the #NDW16 hashtag on Twitter all week. Yet from what I saw, very few people were actually jumping on board. Yes, there were plenty of automated-looking tweets from diabetes and health-related organisations. There were some retweets. However I saw very few people actually jumping in and talking about it.

Diabetes Queensland and Diabetes Victoria were both calling for submissions to their Diabetes Life Hacks and Diabetes Won’t Stop Me campaigns, and I don’t feel that either gathered the momentum they deserved in terms of social media engagement. I would go as far to suggest that even these more positive campaigns were overshadowed by a negative national theme.

Watching many passionately vocalise their feelings (some inappropriately) towards the campaign on Facebook, I couldn’t help but wonder what the outcome would have been if the campaign were a positive one. 

Okay, so the theme was foot health. The underlying message was to look at and take care of your feet. Why not set up a few booths across the city where people could get their feet examined for free? The CBD, universities, shopping centres, etc. Create a cool hashtag, and encourage people to post photos on social media as they’re getting their feet examined. Make an event out of it, and give people something to remember when it’s time for their next foot check.

I thought Diabetes NSW were onto something by staging a Guinness World Record – it’s just a shame that they went with “Standing on One Leg,” which seemingly made a mockery of amputees. 

I personally did not like the theme of this year’s National Diabetes Week. And if the response on social media is anything to go by, Diabetes Australia will need to reconsider their messaging in 2017.

Raising Awareness and Smashing The Stigmas

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I’ve found a few excellent statements and initiatives amidst this year’s disappointing National Diabetes Week campaign (which you can read more about here). I really was tempted to retweet and endorse them on Twitter earlier in the week, but couldn’t for one reason alone. Again, most of these words were printed on that depressing collage of sad people with eye patches and other diabetes complications. I will not endorse that. We should not be telling people that a life with diabetes is depressing. That a life with diabetes is black and grey and white. And that a life with diabetes is a death sentence.

The first one, #WalkWithD, comes from a group of advocates called Partnering for Diabetes Change. There are so many stigmas out there about diabetes. Like the other day, for instance. I disclosed my diabetes when booking my climb of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I was automatically asked if I needed to have some lollies and pointed to the direction of the kiosk. And truth is, stigmas like these simply come from a general lack of diabetes awareness. Even my family, as much as I love them, won’t understand what I go through until they actually walk a mile in my shoes (and I hope they never have to). But by reading this blog, I hope they will have a better understanding. Share your story online and use the hashtag #WalkWithD.

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The second one is #TypeAll.  I think this one was a hasty counteraction from Diabetes Australia after people voiced that the National Diabetes Week campaign was too focussed on type 2 and “prevention.” Nonetheless, its still a simple, clear cut message. I support ALL people with diabetes, no matter the type.

And my favourite one, Diabetes Queensland’s #BGLSelfies. If you read yesterday’s post, you can see my selfie and the story behind it. The message is simple. Don’t be afraid to test. And don’t be ashamed of the numbers. Proudly hold up your meter showing your BGL test result, snap a selfie, and share it on social media with the hashtag #BGLSelfies. Its really empowering.

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Finally, go over and like Diabetes Queensland on Facebook. Its been by far my favourite social media page to follow during National Diabetes Week. They’ve created a very people powered feed, with lots of positive stories, awareness messages and general inspiration. Australia, we need to see more of this please!

National Diabetes Week may be coming to a close, but raising awareness and smashing the stigmas certainly won’t.

Enough With The Scare Tactics and Blame Games

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I’m disappointed with the approach that Diabetes Australia has taken towards this year’s National Diabetes Week campaign. You need only have a read of that poster to see that it paints a great, big sad picture of diabetes. A great, big sad picture of me and the 1.1 million other Australians living with this disease. And yet another diabetes stigma that I will have to combat. Another 280 people will be diagnosed with diabetes in Australia today, and that poster doesn’t give them much hope for a healthy life.

Look, I honestly get that type 2 diabetes is preventable. And if there’s something that we can do to reduce it’s impact on other lives, then I’m all for it. But I think in the midst of this campaign, Diabetes Australia may have forgotten that some of their audience following this campaign are people with already diagnosed diabetes.

And as a person with already diagnosed diabetes, I absolutely hate reading such demoralising statements. Diabetes is NOT a burden that I “will have to spend the rest of my life managing 24/7.” Its not a great burden on me, and most certainly not on my family. I can confidently say that I’ve done and achieved everything that I would have done regardless of my diabetes. If diabetes was a burden, I certainly wouldn’t have graduated from uni, travelled, worked and adventured. Hell, how would I even be able to get out of bed in the morning?

Yes, there certainly are days where diabetes does feel somewhat of a burden. But its the last thing I want to be told. Hearing those words out loud is demoralising. Its a put down. It’s enough to remind me, to reinforce to me those more difficult aspects of diabetes. It’s enough to make me lose my motivation. Its enough to ruin a good day. And I certainly wouldn’t even consider walking up to a friend and saying, “I feel so sorry for you, you will have to spend the rest of your life managing diabetes 24/7.”

And when that poster brings up the growing epidemic of diabetes, it just screams of the blame game. It seems to imply that its our fault. That we are doing something wrong. That somehow, I, and everyone like me, are a part of the problem. In the case of type 1 diabetes, I made my message loud and clear in yesterday’s post. There is no definitive cause to type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is not caused by a lack of exercise, a bad diet or unhealthy lifestyle. Its not my fault. Its not my family’s fault. It’s just another card that I’ve been dealt with to play in life.

And in the case of type 2 diabetes, an unhealthy lifestyle certainly isn’t the sole cause either. Things like genetics, family history, age, gestational diabetes and even ethnicity can play a part. And let’s not forget that some of those lifestyle factors are out of our control too. Things like slow metabolisms and actual chronic conditions that inhibit activity. And in the cases where diabetes may be caused by lifestyle factors, playing the blame game does very little to empower the newly diagnosed patient. And playing the blame game doesn’t help them in coming to terms with their diagnosis.

And then there’s the lovely list of complications. I’m haunted by the thought of complications. Every time that I’m not feeling right, I worry that maybe I’ve done something wrong. Every time that I see a bad reading, I think that maybe, just maybe, I’ve pushed my body to its limits and caused some kind of irreperable damage. I still get scared to this very day. And I’m in my twenties. What about all the poor type 1 kids out there who have to see these horrible images. What about the poor parents who have to go to bed at night with those horrible thoughts, worrying for their child’s future.

I don’t want to hear that I’m going to develop complications. I don’t want to hear that diabetes is somehow my fault. And I certainly don’t want to be painted a great, big sad picture of what my life will not be.

In my opinion, there’s a much better way of doing it.

Give me a campaign that empowers me to be healthy. Give me a campaign that empowers the whole world to be healthy. A campaign that uses great big words. Words like Conqueror. Warrior. Dominator. Gladiator. Survivor. Show me what a healthy life is capable of. Show me what a healthy life with diabetes is capable of. And make me want to go out there and be as healthy and happy as I can be.

HBF Health Insurance in Western Australia have the right idea. They have a fantastic marketing message that goes something like “it’s amazing what a healthy body can do.” Just check out their Facebook page – its flooded with bright, colourful images of healthy people, tips and advice for living well.

I would really love to see a campaign like this next year. I have the utmost respect for Diabetes Australia, but enough with the scare tactics and blame games.

Diabetes Australia’s National Diabetes Week 2015 runs from July 12-18, 2015. To find out more about the ‘280 a Day’ campaign and how you can get involved, click here.