Yesterday, I woke to the news that the American Diabetes Association – American Association of Diabetes Educators guidance paper on language had been published.

You can read the article here, and then check out this awesome two-pager that has been developed as a quick guide for anyone working with people with diabetes.

I love the four core principles that guided this work. How wonderful it would be if these principles were at the front of everyone’s mind anytime they were speaking about diabetes or to people with diabetes!

But that wasn’t the only exciting piece of #LanguageMatters to hit the interwebs yesterday.

#LanguageMatters superstar, Professor Jane Speight co-authored (with Professor Richard Holt) this editorial about the language of diabetes for Diabetic Medicine. (And yes, the irony of this piece being published in a journal with that name is not lost on me…)

We’re not done yet – there is still much to do. But I do think we are heading in the right direction and there certainly is evidence that the message is getting through.

I’m an invited speaker at a diabetes meeting tomorrow and as part of my speaker information pack, I was sent a link to the Diabetes Australia Language Position Statement, with instructions to use it as a guide for the language I use in my talk.

And the organising team of the Roche Educators Day back in August did the same thing.

But no one is resting yet… We need to keep pushing and keep insisting that anytime anyone is talking to or about people with diabetes it is done with complete and utter respect. When I say #LanguageMatters it is not about political correctness gone mad. It is about fundamentally understanding how the words used – and the way they are used – impact and affect people with diabetes.

So pleased to keep pushing the #LanguageMatters agenda with Jane Speight!