Reflections on a Year of Reality Check- Cate

Reflections on a Year of Reality Check

by Cate

The first Reality Check event that I was able to get along to, quite conveniently as it turned out, was the First Anniversary Dinner held at the Street Cafe in St Kilda. Until then I had been rotting away in a pokey hole called Queensland which, as far as I was a aware, could not comprehend the idea that someone aged 17-30 (or to 45 or to whenever) might also be existing with Type One Diabetes. I think DAQ, as with many other branches of DA until the venerable Bronwyn and Kate came along, were still suffering under the misconception that Type Ones never make it past 16, when their camps and so forth fold. It's quite a disturbing thought, I have visions of all of us exploding on our 16th birthdays and being sucked into some sort of mire, never to reappear in the DA consciousness, until, maybe, we are 60 and miraculously turn into Type Twos.

Anyway, this is beside the point. The point being that there was nothing for me up there and so I was overjoyed when I received an email from Kate asking if I was interested in joining a group in Victoria (my parents lived in Victoria) specifically designed for young people who were trying to fit diabetes into their dynamic, active and exciting lives. I'm putting the emphasis on movement deliberately. The wonderful thing about this group is that it recognises that young people with diabetes (diabetics if you will) are still people, with hopes and dreams and commitments and loves and LIVES damnit; not passive, mindless, dummies who need to be educated about what to do and what not to do in order to be model patients. Maybe this is because it is run exclusively by young people with diabetes, those with a first hand knowledge of what it is truly like living with this disease day to day. Maybe not, but I think it's a philosophy that DA in all its various branches would do well to take on board. And that extends to the entire medical profession with contact with diabetes. Actually that extends to the whole of society.

You know I'm sick of being pigeon-holed because I was unfortunate enough to be cursed with diabetes. I'm sick of the "you eat ice-cream?"s, the "are you having one of your things?", the "i hate needles, i don't know how you can do it!" (because otherwise I'd die stupid!!!) comments I get from people. Now I know that's unfair, because it's just ignorance - but the comments some doctors and health care professionals with and without secialist knowledge of diabetes, leaves me in despair that we'll ever be truly understood expect by each other. Which is why I'm so incredibly grateful to be part of this group (and now that I live in Melbourne, part of this group full time).

Typically, as soon as I move out of the state some intrepid girl up in Queensland has started a group, like Reality Check, up there and is inundated with requests for membership. Well, I am so pleased and wish her all the best of luck, because these are NECESSARY. Diabetes is frustrating and difficult, but it need not be lonely. My loneliness came from feeling that I was the only one out there, and that somehow it was my fault. I don't feel that anymore, and that's due entirely to Reality Check - knowing that there are others who are experiencing the same things that you are, that are facing the same obstacles, the same hurdles, the same prejudices - that does amazing things for your self worth and your confidence in yourself as a person and as a diabetic. At last the unseen minority has a voice!

So, I want to say how glad I am to be a part of this, to have been able to get along to the excellent dinner and meet some of you. And I especially want to say thanks to Kate (and all her helpers), it's a hard job running this, but it is so important and benefits so many. I don't know where I would be without it.

This is why we do what we do! - Kate