In my last post, I posed the question of why diabetes has not been as high in the general public's awareness as breast cancer, AIDS, or even the Iranian election earlier this year. I left off quoting Christopher Thomas of Diabetic Rockstar, saying "we can't even decide on a color [to represent diabetes awareness]."

In terms of "strength in numbers", it makes a certain degree of sense to support the major organizations whose aim is to champion our needs and our rights to the government, the medical insurance companies, and the general public. They have the funds to pay for advertisements and for professional lobbyists. They have the seed money to pay for logo merchandise for fundraising. They have the money to pay for free handouts to raise awareness, and to provide grant money for diabetes researchers.

But bigger organizations often require disproportionately bigger overheads. They need to pay accountants and lawyers to keep track of the funds in and out, the tax laws and the non-profit laws. They need to pay their full-time lobbyists, and the office staffs needed to manage fundraising, grant management, and general organization. That money is not going towards getting Grandma her box of test strips, or Johnny his insulin pump -- at least, not directly. And the big organizations may not have our specific needs in mind. Many folk cringe at the ADA's support of low-fat (instead of low-carb) diets for people with diabetes; others believe that supporting Type 2 diabetes takes away from the funds that could be used to support Type 1 diabetes -- or that money spent to get Uncle Bob his Janumet is not being spent on research to cure grand-niece Britney. In short, many folk believe that to support one of the large, mainstream diabetes-lobbying organizations is equivalent to "selling out".

In order to look at how to brand diabetes awareness to the same point of public recognition and support as breast cancer and AIDS, one must take into account how the "brand name celebrity diseases" got there. Look at a pink ribbon, and you think "Susan G. Komen Foundation"; look at a red double-dagger and think "American Lung Association -- it's a matter of Life and Breath". And while there are several major AIDS-awareness-and-research organizations, we think first of Join(RED) or (if we're near New York City) Gay Men's Health Crisis. For good or ill, the only two organizations in the US that have that kind of public name recognition are the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). And for good or ill, neither (nor the two of them, combined, nor the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) -- the US governmental agency responsible for diabetes awareness and research) has been able (or willing?) to put forward the same sort of branding campaign (World-Diabetes-Day-blue cellphones, notebooks, T-shirts, toys, kitchenware...) that the Komen Foundation and Join(RED) have put together to raise funds and awareness for the cause of diabetes awareness, research, and support.

Maybe the answer is that Diabetes, as a high-visibility adult's disease (AKA, Type 2), has been around longer than breast cancer and AIDS -- and that as a children's affliction (Type 1), it did not have the high visibility associated with the fundraising TV telethons for Muscular Dystrophy or Cerebral Palsy. Or maybe having a "poster child" was counterproductive because children with diabetes don't usually look sick, do not lack for physical mobility or developmental impairment, or show any other sort of deformity that guilts donors out of their hard-earned money. Or maybe one type of diabetes or another hits such a large percentage of the population that it's no longer considered a separate, research-worthy or support-worthy disease, but a normal part of life, just like heart disease, stroke, and non-reproductive-related forms of cancer.

Still, the question is whether or not there is anything we and the various diabetes-related organizations can do to raise the public awareness of, and support for, diabetes research and people with diabetes -- and will we be more successful if we put aside our differences and stand together in strength, or will the perceived "sell out" end up being counterproductive?