Wednesday, May 17, 2017

The Blame Game - #DBlogWeek Day 3

We are halfway through Diabetes Blog Week already!  I wanted to take a minute today to send out a thank you to Stacey Simms for including me on her latest episode of Diabetes Connections.  If you’d like to listen to the episode, you can check it out here.

200x20064On to today’s topic, The Blame Game. Having diabetes often makes a visit to the doctor a dreaded experience, as there is invariably bad news of one kind or another. And sometimes the way the doctor talks to you can leave you feeling like you’re at fault. Or maybe you have a fantastic healthcare team, but have experienced blame and judgement from someone else in your life – friend, loved one, complete stranger. Think about a particularly bad instance, how that person talked to you, the words they used and the conversation you had. Now, the game part. Let’s turn this around. If you could turn that person into a puppet, what would you have them say that would leave you feeling empowered and good about yourself? Let’s help teach people how to support us, rather than blame us! (Thank you, Brian, for inspiring this topic.)

blame

My goodness the world loves to judge and blame, don’t we?  I can write for days on this topic, but instead I think I’ll stick with the one blame that makes me the most angry.  The Complications Blame.

My distant relative had diabetes and had his legs amputated…..but he didn’t take care of himself.

You’d better take good care of yourself or you’ll go blind.

People with uncontrolled diabetes will get complications.

I swear, I feel like if I hear this one more time, I’m going to lose my mind.  I mean, first people with diabetes get blamed for having it, and then get blamed again for having the complications that it brings.  Listen up world - it doesn’t work like that.  Nobody causes their own diabetes.  And nobody causes their own complications.  Our bodies and our condition is to blame.

So here is what that puppet, who is smarter than the general public, would say……

My distant relative had diabetes too.  (Period, end of statement.)

You’d better take good care of yourself.  In fact, we all should take good care of ourselves.  Want to go for a walk together and then go get salads for lunch?

Some people with diabetes will get complications.  And some will not.  And I love you, so I hope you won’t.  But if you do, I’m here for you.

Diabetes Blog Week
You can find more The Blame Game posts listed here.

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13 comments:

  1. Agreed. Like the redirect in your answer - I find that most people like to judge but won't do anything to change their own behavior.
    In my workplace people with diabetes are mostly seen as costly drags on the health claims, and though lip service is given to supporting PWD, still they judge behind closed doors. So again I remain anonymous sad to say. I need the benefits and in today's political climate I don't dare risk anything.

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  2. wouldn't that be awesome if those were their responses? I think if anyone ever said something like that my brain would explode from the shock.

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  3. Totally agree! And yes, the world loves to judge, ugh!

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  4. Most of the people that I know with type 2 are giantly obese and have no interest in nutrition or exercise. Have you seen the skinny people on the DOC who judge fat people? I sure have. I hesitate to do the JDRF ride for a cure because I don't 'look like an athlete'.

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  5. Love your post! Some people just don't get it. They have no insight!

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  6. So true. I lived in fear for at least a year thinking my son would 100% go blind because his blood sugar numbers were high and we couldn't get them down. Fast forward to his eye exam where he was deemed to have perfect vision with no signs of any retina damage or other potential complications. It took me so long to realize that complications are not a given, and that we are trying our best everyday to avoid them (obviously) and it does not mean he'll automatically have complications.

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  7. we humans find it incredibly hard not to assign judgement on anything - facts alone seem not to be enough!

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  8. I am so happy that I have had so few complications. Lord knows I tired to get them. I am so happy every day that my prognostication did not occur. Yes we all can get them, we all wont. For many years I refused to believe that but today I can say it is true.

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  9. Love, love, love this post. Your puppet is pretty cool, and I think I may have a salad after walking tomorrow, while thinking about this. Thank you.

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Thanks for your comment!