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Becoming Aware of Awareness
By kellirhea in Quixotic Quicksand
January 16, 2006

Fellow Vicad blogger Grey-Beard Loon recently posted a discussion about diabetes and the related lack of well-publicized awareness events (e.g., telethons, walks, runs) and swag (e.g., bracelets, ribbons). Ever since I read his post, I’ve been combing the Internet in hopes of finding some sort of awareness regalia or charity event for this frighteningly prevalent disease:

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The American Diabetes Association doesn’t really have anything in the way of trendy rubber bracelets. They do, however, hold America's Walk for Diabetes. This event is held at different dates in various regions, but many of these dates tend to be during the month of November, which is National Diabetes Awareness Month. (I just missed it!)

Andrew P. Mandell, executive director of the Defeat Diabetes Foundation, is participating in a one-man awareness event. Mandell, also know as Mr. Diabetes, is walking across the United States on a 10,000 mile trek that will take over six years to complete.

His "Wake Up and Walk Tour" began on Jan. 15, 2002, in Madeira Beach, F.L., and has taken him to the West Coast and has brought him to Seneca Falls, N.Y., as of December 2005. His diabetes-laden legs had carried him 6,916.6 miles as of his last update. Now that’s dedication to a cause!

*As far as awareness chic goes, I couldn’t locate any genuine articles whose proceeds go directly to a diabetes-related charity. I found rubber diabetes bracelets at Personalized Cause. Apparently, the color for diabetes is gray. These gray bracelets, when purchased, benefit an unspecified “charity.” Who’s Charity? The proprietor’s wife?

Since every color and cause under the sun is represented at Personalized Cause—orange is for hunger or feral cats, orchid and orange are for eczema (I’m not joking), brown is for anti-tobacco—one can never be certain exactly where his or her $4.95 is going. No thanks.
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It’s time for diabetes to be represented fairly in the world of awareness fashion. Who knows? Maybe I’ll take a page from Mr. Diabetes’ book and start my own grassroots awareness campaign for November 2006 in the Victoria area. I can make my own gray ribbon pendants and give them out at local schools and health care facilities. It all has to start somewhere, right?