Friday, November 1, 2013

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month: Dialing Our Diabetes Advocacy To 11 - One Louder~

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month & November 14th is World Diabetes Day - Which means most of us will be dialing our Diabetes Advocacy in all its forms, to 11 - one louder. 

Here's the thing: Diabetes Advocacy doesn't have to be a grand gesture with a flashing neon sign in order to make a difference in peoples awareness of diabetes  - Or  the public perception of people living with diabetes. 

Little ripples make huge waves In the ocean, (and in the bathtub but I don't recommend it,) in diabetes care & diabetes advocacy. 

You can advocate in front of a mic to the masses or in line at the bank. You can advocate by wearing blue, promoting the Blue Circle, writing diabetes blog posts and reading diabetes blog posts. 
Diabetes Advocacy can be done on your facebook page statuses, through your camera lens or by putting yourself in a loved ones diabetes shoes for a day via text. 

You can tweet about diabetes and participate in Diabetes twitter chats - Or lurking in #dsma twitter chats.
You can advocate by participating in Diabetes Walks - yours or for one of your D friends, or on your daily walk to around the block while doing your #bigbluetest.  
If you see a diabetes myth in the media, pick up your phone and give that particular media outlet a call - Or write them an email and let them know how they got diabetes wrong - And how 
Your children can advocate for themselves by talking to their class about diabetes - Or sharing their diabetes with one friend they were afraid to tell that they had diabetes 

You can advocate by offering help or sympathetic ear to someone who is struggling with their own diabetes~ 

What every single on of us says and or does when it comes to advocating for diabetes awareness matters - Don't ever think for a moment that it doesn't - Together we move mountains - Alone we trudge up hills. 

And for the record: I certainly haven't listed all the ways to advocate for diabetes in the post - So if you have any Diabetes Advocacy tips, tricks, advocacy efforts or advice for others who might be reading this post and stuck on how to advocate, please share! 

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