As many of you know, I (along with about 3500 if my closest friends) spent last week at the CWD FFL Conference in Orlando. There were many pictures posted by many people and stories told all over the DOC.
There was a lot.
There have also been a good deal of stories of people getting ready for camp, leaving for camps, or sharing of ‘camp stories’. There were many pictures posted by many people and they too were shared much over the DOC.
How many people do you think are represented by these photos, stories, and others who share daily in the DOC? Five thousand, ten thousand, perhaps even twenty thousand?
Depending on who you speak to, or which statistic is being shared–somewhere between 1.3 and 2 million people have T1 diabetes. Add to that the multiple of two parents say for half that number that are active, it means that (for discussion sake) 2.5-3 million people are active in some sort of diabetes care for themselves or for/with their children. DO you ever think about the (conservatively) over two million and some-odd-thousand people who are not online as you and I are?
What do they do for support? What are they involved in that we would love to know about? What are they missing (well we know that answer, don’t we)? I’m not sure how many people are actually active in the DOC community but I am sure it represents just a fraction of the total population dealing with diabetes. But I ask you to chime in on this, knowing that many do not actively participate but do ‘visit’, what are your thoughts?
We are not short of opinions, we have something to say when we want to say it, we hold each other up, we wish each other well, we send advice when asked, we share our concerns, our hopes, our ‘tidbits’, and our dreams for ourselves and for our children.
We are the Diabetes Online Community. Not everyone takes advantage of that; I surely am glad you do. I am happy to be here. Just a reminder that we are in this together. Aren’t we in the DOC very lucky?
What DO others do?
I am a diabetes dad.
Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’.
One reply on “A World Outside the DOC…….Aren’t You Glad to be on the Inside?”
I know that in my own community, we have a local D-Camp that aside from the June activity coordinates a number of get-togethers for kids/families looking for support. Not even talking what ADA and JDRF may do, but just those real-life meetups mean the world to those involved. And with my group of several dozen Adult Type 1s, I’m regularly talking to fellow D-peeps about how there’s an interesting line between sharing “just a little” online and then getting bogged down by diabetes online… Some want the periodic meetups and even access to the Facebook group page, and some online sites to visit occasionally, but they don’t want that to become their focus in life (thinking D all the time isn’t healthy, no matter what kind of peep support you may be getting from it). Interesting discussion. I’m glad the DOC is there for those who need it when they need it.