Just a few simple words added to a news report could contribute to helping change the idea that diabetics are all obese, lazy men and women. I was ashamed, just as many other diabetics surely feel. I never wanted people to know about it it was my big secret. Even if I couldn't pin-point the exact wording, I knew it, even in elementary school. In reality, diabetics are people like you and me, living daily life about 26 million people are diagnosed with diabetes (Type 2 Diabetes 1). When someone says "I'm diabetic," those who are not educated or do not know the difference between the types, or even any kind of specifics on diabetes, connect the diabetic to the media image of a morbidly obese man or woman.
Whether you like it or not, it's an excellent explanation.
The article "Why Society Hates Diabetics" puts it in words I don't think I'll ever be able to top the author claims, "fat = ugly and diabetes = fat (as far as the average person is concerned) then diabetes = ugly" ("Why Society Hates Diabetes" 9-13). For some odd reason, though, the average person doesn't know anything other than the fact that obesity causes some kind of diabetes. You can't change your genetics or your age. On the flip side, other factors can't be fought. That means that some - let's note that "some" I italicized - type two diabetics are able to fight against their diabetes by losing weight or working towards being more active or lowering their blood pressure. They also explain, "Unlike people with type 1 diabetes, people with type 2 diabetes produce insulin however, either their pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body cannot use the insulin adequately" (Type 2 Diabetes 2). On the topic of type two diabetes, Web MD lists possible reasons one can get type two diabetes, including but not limited to obesity, havingĢ McCarthy 2 family members who also have type two diabetes, being over the age of 45, inactivity, or having high blood pressure (Type 2 Diabetes 2). That means that so far there is no cure for type one diabetes, and no matter the amount of exercise or weight stripped off, they'll be diabetic. Web MD reports, "Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body's own immune system destroys the insulinproducing cells of the pancreas," and nobody has figured out why it happens (Type 1 Diabetes 1). There is a significant difference between type one and type two diabetes. All the news says is "diabetes," "diabetics," and "obesity," so will my friends think I'm diabetic because I'm overweight? Or that I'm overweight because I'm diabetic? Do they think I'm the same as what the media portrays as these men and women who weigh five hundred pounds and eat McDonald's around the clock who are so easily put down by anyone and everyone? The media should specify what type of diabetes they deliver news on because people are confused on the role obesity plays in the cause of diabetes. I hear about these rising rates and that's it's all because Americans are becoming more and more obese, and I am left to wonder what my friends think of me. However, when I sit down to watch the news and there's a new story on diabetes, I rarely hear anything that would apply to type one diabetics. Tasha Bowlin English 100 Writing 1 13 Mar The Media Image of the Diabetic As a type one diabetic, being diagnosed at the age of five years old, I've always known what the basic differences were between type one and type two diabetes.