Find out how a non-diabetic got inspired to create a Diabetes Awareness post to bust the most common diabetes myths for the general public.
I have been freelancing with the Voluntary Health Services (VHS), a well-known non-profit hospital in Chennai. The hospital largely functions on the basis of donations from the general public and corporations. To gain recognition and build a strong online presence, they recently started Instagram and Facebook accounts. I, along with one of my teammates, got the opportunity to create digital content for their social media pages. We make different kinds of content, one of it being awareness posts. The idea to make a Diabetes Day Awareness post generated from the sole intention of collaborating with Vinita. Vini or Vin, as I lovingly address her, was the first person to educate me about diabetes, a condition I generally ignored because I thought it only happened in old age. I had often heard this term at home but only associated it with my grandmother.
I did not understand the depth of the situation when I learned that Vini was diabetic, again thanks to my ignorance and disinterest in medical-related anything. I only learned about it when she started telling me about her daily struggles and her journey to accepting diabetes. Of course, I still cannot answer a science quiz on diabetes but I definitely understand the grave depth of the condition. To be very frank, looking at her openly share her struggles and her sheer determination to create awareness and fight with diabetes-related stigma motivated me to collaborate with her for the Diabetes Day post.
One day, we were having our regular Google Meets video call session. That is when I started brainstorming ideas with her. She gave me two good, potential ideas that we could work with. One was to make a ‘diabetes myth buster video’ and the other, a more simple post on ‘how one can manage diabetes’. My teammate took up the second post to work on. I, being interested in video-making, took up Vini’s first idea. Our vision was to involve diabetics busting certain common diabetes myths for the general audience. Vini was kind enough to involve her friends too in this exciting project. She and two of her friends, Vedashree and Sayli participated. To form the questions, I did some research on Google and found many blogs on diabetic myths. I wrote down the most common ones and did a quick review with Vini. We finalized on 5 myths.
Myth#1 - Diabetes only happens to old people.
As I mentioned earlier, I always thought that diabetes is an old people disease.
Myth#2 - Sugar causes diabetes.
We always think diabetes=sugar, which I learnt is not true!
Myth#3 - Diabetes can be ‘cured’.
Uh-oh, you may be living under a rock if you think this is possible.
Myth#4 - People with diabetes cannot eat sugar.
Again, diabetes is not equal to sugar!
Myth#5 - Diabetes is not a big deal.
Oh boy, you wish it wasn’t, well, I learnt it the easy way, thanks to Vini.
After getting all the video responses, I started compiling the video. It was great fun to make it and I suddenly felt knowledgeable and responsible to share this information with the world. After the video was complete, I showed it to my mom and brother to understand if the content was easy and relevant. To my relief, they found it useful! I shared it with Vini and her friends after that. It made me really happy that I contributed to my friend’s fight with diabetes. I feel they are bold to share their stories with the world to help and support other diabetics. Also, the video got 404 views on Instagram, which means 404 people watched the video and hopefully, learned a thing or two!
View the video on instagram
About Vaibhavi (She/Her):
Words and camera are Vaibhavi’s favorite tools of expression. She loves observing and capturing various moments around her, which may or may not entertain one and all. She is mostly happy, motivated, and enthusiastic to explore and learn. Oh yes, she makes films too, sometimes.
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