September 2, 2009
Kathleen

I am a person with diabetes (PWD).
While all medical textbooks may say “diabetic” and “disease”, I never say “diabetic” or “disease”. NEVER. I suffer from a chronic condition, diabetes. I don’t want to be labeled as “Diseased”. Ick! That sounds just awful, doesn’t it?

I am a woman, now an athlete, a friend, a sister, a colleague, a native New Yorker, an American and all of those people has diabetes. When you say the “diabetic child”, inevitably it will get shortened to the “diabetic” and the child is somehow lost. Folks will tell you that they use the term “diabetic” for the sake of brevity. Why?
Obviously diabetes is a huge part of my life and defines me in many ways like all of my other life experiences but I am NOT the disease and do not want to be labeled as such.

It’s a pet peeve of mine and I think many in the community are split down the middle. I also think there are others that have been using the label “Diabetic” for so long that they never really thought about it any other way.
Well, here’s some food for thought (free food, no carbs, no insulin needed!). Why don’t these conditions, and so many other, have labels?

Hypertensiac: Person with hypertension
Hammer-toic: Person who suffers from hammer toes
Heart Attacker: Person who has experienced a heart attack
Rheumatoid Arthritic: Person with rheumatoid arthritis
Canceric: Person who suffers from cancer.

Ones I like:
Cancer Survivor: It’s so obvious that the focus is on Survivor and not the Cancer. As it should be.
WILD Women: Women Inspiring Life with Diabetes. The focus is on Life!

Join me fellow WILD Women in continuing to inspire a rich and full Life.