Why do you advocate?

How are we all doing this Diabetes Awareness Month? Are you feeling it? Or are you already over it – even though we’re just out of the first week, and the long haul is still ahead of us?

I’m on my way home from the ISPAD meeting. I’m at Montreal airport and I have another thirty hours ahead of me before I walk in the door home. I’m tired. But I’m energised. The privilege of spending a few days with diabetes advocates will do that.

Sitting here in the airport lounge, I opened Instagram and saw a post from Breakthrough T1D Advocacy. (And a little disclosure that I work in the Global Responsibility team at Breakthrough T1D.) The first slide was the statement ‘Why I Advocate’, and the following tiles shared responses from community members. I’m so annoyed I hadn’t seen this post before I got to ISPAD, because I would have loved to ask the #dedoc° voices their reasons for being such fierce and impactful advocates.

So…why do YOU advocate?

My answer? I advocate because I don’t know any other way to live with diabetes. Every day with diabetes is an act of advocacy. Some days that adds a burden that casts a very dark shadow, but some days it’s just life with diabetes. The wonderful Linxi Mytkolli introduced herself during her presentation at the #dedoc° symposium this week with ‘My full time job is managing my diabetes’, and then she went on to talk about her day job.

That’s diabetes: two jobs in one life.

While we may need to advocate all the time to simply live with diabetes, that doesn’t mean we need to be outspoken in the way we do it. It doesn’t mean we need to speak up or speak loudly or speak to rooms full of people. I hope people understand that advocacy can be on their terms, in their space, in their own way.

This week, my way has been to stand on the stage at ISPAD and talk about how research is one of the ways to end diabetes stigma. It was to amplify the #dedoc° voices and very loudly remind anyone who would listen that people with diabetes belong anywhere diabetes is being discussed. It was to chair two sessions which featured people with lived experience of diabetes speaking about their advocacy efforts.

And my way has also been a discussion in the airport lounge just ten minutes ago after changing my Omnipod and the person next to me wanted to chat about what I was doing. They were polite… ‘Do you mind me asking,’ they started. And no. In that moment, I didn’t. It felt light to share and answer questions about costs and advocacy initiatives to reduce those costs. It felt good to gently set the record straight when they said that diabetes was everywhere and it would just be better if people ate whole foods. And it felt positive when their response to me pointing out that stigma harms was, ‘I had no idea and I’ll be more careful about what I say’.

Two jobs. One life. Every little act of advocacy. Every little act of diabetes. Every single day.