Celiac Disease is not a joke. Eating gluten-free is my medicine, not my choice. Varying levels of gluten sensitivity is a real thing. Yet why does the media feel that they can poke fun of those of us living a gluten-free lifestyle? Just yesterday a luggage company sent out a national press release announcing their luggage was now gluten-free. I called them out on this via Twitter and told them it was in poor taste. I also pointed out that yesterday was March 31st and NOT April Fools Day. The still didn't get it.
The more the media keeps using gluten-free people as the butt of their jokes, the harder it is for us living with Celiac to be taken seriously. While our first instinct might be to "fight back" against these jokesters, I think we have a bigger responsibility to educate others about exactly WHY we eat gluten-free. It is up to us living with Celiac to educate about Celiac. Instead of poking fun at us, maybe these insensitive people will start to understand that living with Celiac Disease is a real thing and we are not a joke.
If you see a gluten-free joke today (or any day), I encourage you to respond with knowledge not fighting words. Send this person links to the Gluten Intolerance Group, Celiac Disease Foundation, and National Celiac Disease Society. Give the person a checklist of the almost 300 symptoms of Celiac Disease. Take them to a gluten-free bakery so they can taste some good gluten-free food.
And if you can't get through to these jokesters with knowledge and education, play their own game and send them this:
The more the media keeps using gluten-free people as the butt of their jokes, the harder it is for us living with Celiac to be taken seriously. While our first instinct might be to "fight back" against these jokesters, I think we have a bigger responsibility to educate others about exactly WHY we eat gluten-free. It is up to us living with Celiac to educate about Celiac. Instead of poking fun at us, maybe these insensitive people will start to understand that living with Celiac Disease is a real thing and we are not a joke.
If you see a gluten-free joke today (or any day), I encourage you to respond with knowledge not fighting words. Send this person links to the Gluten Intolerance Group, Celiac Disease Foundation, and National Celiac Disease Society. Give the person a checklist of the almost 300 symptoms of Celiac Disease. Take them to a gluten-free bakery so they can taste some good gluten-free food.
And if you can't get through to these jokesters with knowledge and education, play their own game and send them this:
Labels: April Fools Day, celiac, gluten-free, Not a Joke
3 Comments:
I do feel like it's the trendy thing to be gluten free right now. There are so many different gluten free diets everyone is jumping on. My friend suffers from celiac disease and it is actually a really big deal. It would not be fun to be diagnosed with it. I wonder how long people will last on these diets or if the trend will fade out.
http://www.acr-research.com/study-137-Celiac-Disease-(SLC)
I completely understand. One of my best friends had Celiac Disease and she was really careful about what she ate. Even if I made something that didn't have gluten in it, she wouldn't touch it if it was cooked in a dish that had touched anything with gluten. If she accidentally ate gluten she was sick the next day and in a lot of pain. It's not a joke. It's a legitimate disease that people shouldn't make fun of.
Claudia Rosenburg | http://www.acr-research.com/study-137-Celiac-Disease-(SLC)
My dad has Celiac disease, and a lot of people think that he's just trying to keep up with some fad. He gets very very sick if he ever eats even a tiny bit of gluten. I'm glad that there are other people out there that understand the seriousness of this disease. http://www.rapidmedicalresearch.com/study-77-Celiac-Disease-
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