Ignorance is Bliss

One of the things that annoys all of us PWD is when the general populations perpetuates diabetes myths. It has been something that we have been fighting since the day we (or our loved one) was diagnosed with diabetes.

We deal with people telling us to eat cinnamon, run 10 miles a day, stop eating bread, etc and then your diabetes will go away. We deal with people saying that diabetes happens because someone is overweight or ate too much sugar (both of which are untrue for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes).
Sometimes it seems like a constant battle.

Celiac has been in my world for only a couple of months. I spend most of my time trying to figure out what I'm doing, if I'm eating the right thing, and what the best gluten-free food are. It didn't really occur to me that I would step into advocacy for celiac by accident. But it happened.

Last weekend I was at Whole Foods (a store, prior to my celiac diagnosis, I had only been in a couple of times). It was crowded and busy, as most places are on Saturday afternoon. There I was, standing in the gluten-free mixes/flours isle trying to decide which of them I was going to try.

An older lady came up to an employee standing nearby to ask where she could find waffle mix. The employee turned around and came near me and grabbed a box of waffle mix and handed it to the lady. She immediately and quite loudly stated, "I don't want this gluten-free stuff. This whole gluten-free thing has gotten out of hand."

I probably would have let it go. I can agree that so many people are going gluten-free for a variety of reason, not all of them medical. But the older lady didn't stop there. She kept on about how everyone has something and everyone wants to have something just to be different and it is ridiculous.
I couldn't stop myself. I said, "Until it happens to you."

She then proceeded to tell me that everyone thinks their kid has autism when they just want an excuse to say something is wrong and that it is the same way for people who don't eat gluten. Then she said, "Unless you have a medical diagnosis, you aren't sick."

I kept my mouth shut. What I really wanted to do was punch her, but I'm a non-confrontational person and I didn't relish the though of getting arrested in the middle of Whole Foods on a Saturday. It would have really thrown a wrench in my plans.

At first, I was mad. Then I was thinking of all the things I should have said to her, but didn't. Then I realized, this is just like the diabetes myths I've been trying to bust for years. Now it's a whole new disease, and new myths.

Strangely enough, I almost envy that hateful old lady from Whole Foods. She has obviously been blessed to never had a major illness strike anyone in her family. It is where her ignorance stems from. And in that case, ignorance is bliss. I truly hope she never has to have a loved one deal with an auto-immune disease.