Was This a Memorable Diabetes Month?

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Ho-hum, I'm glad this month is over. Ihad hopes that some ideas would come to fruition, but the AmericanDiabetes Association and JDRF could care less about any idea thatmight unify the message and present a uniform symbol for diabetes. Unless the ADA gets all the glory, do not expect them to agree withthe IDF or JDRF. JDRF on the other hand does not wish to beassociated with anything but type 1 diabetes. These twoorganizations are so full of themselves that they don't realize howinsignificant they are in the scheme of things. When the USA is theonly country that thumbs their nose at the rest of the world, theyhad better wake up and realize that the world is much larger thanthey are. I would not feel upset if the rest of the diabetesorganizations in the world excluded them from all activities.
Riva Greenberg has an excellent blogfrom November 13, 2012 about the lack of unity for a diabetes symbol. She covers the disparity of opinions very well.  I will addthat Diabetes Mine informed us of the choices ADA makes in raisingfunds and paying Ohio telemarketing firm InfoCision 78percent of the money raised for ADA. Then the ADA has the gall tosay they did not do anything wrong. If some people are reading theblog by Mike H(oskins), they may decide the ADA does not need theirmoney. If the funds dry up, ADA may learn a lesson – but do notcount on it.
I don't pretend to understand therivalry between the ADA and JDRF, but from past information, the ADAlikes to abscond with the credit for anything done by otherorganizations and ride roughshod over other organizations. If itwasn't for the few good things (and I emphasize few) that the ADAdoes do, I would say let the ADA go out of existence. The many badthings they do are starting to heavily out-weigh the good. The ADAstill does not realize their one size fits all mantra is for theaverage person with diabetes. The rest of us that are not averageare told to comply and go with the flow. This is the primary reasonI do not like the ADA and the organizations that adhere to theguidelines issued by the ADA.
On November 15, 2012, the ADA sent outan email asking people to write their congressional legislators andurge them to put the reauthorization of the Special Diabetes Program(SDP) on their final to-do list. Then they paint a broad picture ofthe good this funding is doing for type 1 diabetes. Can't letanything be credited to the JDRF. Next, they tell us the “NativeAmerican and Alaska Native communities – which aredisproportionately impacted by type 2 diabetes – SDP programs havebeen a lifesaving tool in the fight against diabetes.” Ihave to wonder what happened to the Hispanic community and otherminorities, why they were left out of the conversation. Finally, the email states,“Fortunately, momentum is on our side.Most of our country’s Representatives and Senators have said theysupport reauthorizing SDP.” I am left wondering of anyof the funds go into the ADA coffers.
As a result, I wrote my representativeand two senators to support SDP, but to withhold any funds that mightfind their way to the ADA. I used the article from Business Week toexplain my reasons for requesting this. I did hear from one senatorsaying he was not aware of the misdeeds of the ADA, but that he wouldhave his staff look into it. My senator said his staff confirmedeverything and more, but would only say he was not sure what wouldhappen or when. I am happy the more was not explained, as I wouldhave been likely to have blogged about it.
Is this blog a vent against the ADA? Not entirely, I want to include all the diabetes organizations thatare so enchanted with their ownimportance that they cannot or will not unite behind theInternational Diabetes Federation (IDF) in adopting one unifiedsymbol for the battle against diabetes. This is one time I will haveto give the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) a passas they have adopted the blue circle of the IDF.