It's a wonder!

For a while now, I've been feeling pretty darn special about being a Jewish type 1 diabetic. It made me feel like a minority, even a minority within a minority. (To counter my WASPy looks.) But then I come to find out there is another Jewish type 1 living within the ranks. Right here in the Silicon Valley dwells yet the same as I: what I held to be sacred and unique, lending to suspicions that I am even less special than I thought. Could there be even more?

A simple Google search showed me that there exists a Jewish Diabetes Association, based in Brooklyn and in Jerusalem's Har Nof neighborhood. According to their site, the JDA's staff of professionals gives lectures on diabetes prevention in both Eretz Yisrael and in America.

Which means... it's aimed at type 2 diabetics. Normally I'd be apathetic to an organization that caters to "diabesity" as I bitterly call it, but it being a Jewish gig, I'll make a grudging exception. If I sound like I'm dripping with disdain, it's because I am. It rubs me the wrong way to have a condition that shares the same name with a self-induced vegetative state.

About the JDA, from the site www.jewishdiabetes.org

"The JDA (Jewish Diabetes Association) is the nation's first and leading Jewish non-profit, non-sectarian health organization devoted to diabetes education and advocacy. Founded in 1985, the JDA has various projects reaching hundreds of communities both in the United States and internationally. We are the only organization offering all our services (website, magazine, contact persons etc) in Both English and Hebrew. We hope to be adding four additional languages in the near future.

The mission of the Association is to spread the awareness of the need and possibility of the prevention and optimal control of diabetes and to help improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. We have a strong focus on the correlation between obesity, diabetes and other diabetes health related issues."

Check out my diabetes blog: http://thediabeticwonder.blogspot.com/