<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Dear Federation, family, and friends,</div><div>Please see the previous thread in this email to learn about an all two common struggle in modern times. The Braille Monitor is of my favorite publications on our Newsline Service.</div><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Sincerely,</div> Deb Reed<div>Central CT Chapter President </div><div><span style="font-size: 13pt;">National Federation Of The Blind</span><br><div><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Phone -860-378-5370</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 40pt;">deb.reed57@gmail.com</span></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div><div dir="ltr"><br>Begin forwarded message:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><b>From:</b> NFB-NEWSLINE Online <publications@nfbnewsline.net><br><b>Date:</b> November 10, 2024 at 12:02:01 PM EST<br><b>To:</b> Deborah Reed <deb.reed57@gmail.com><br><b>Subject:</b> <b>Article from Braille Monitor Articles Section 2024 11 01</b><br><br></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">The Sugar by Anil Lewis
From the Associate Editor: Anil Lewis is a former affiliate and chapter president, among many other roles, and currently the Executive Director for Blindness Initiatives on the National Federation of the Blind staff.
I remember growing up and hearing many of my family members and their friends consistently referring to an affliction they were experiencing called "the sugar. "Did you hear that Mary has the sugar? I had no idea what it meant and was definitely not threatened. How bad could it be? After all, like bacon, sugar makes everything delicious.
Recently diagnosed as diabetic, I have come to know "the sugar" as diabetes and realize the significant threat that it poses to my life and, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 38.4 million other Americans. Thankfully, this is another issue that the National Federation of the Blind works to address head-on.
"Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. Glucose is your body's main source of energy. Your body can make glucose, but glucose also comes from the food you eat-over time, high blood glucose can damage your heart, kidneys, feet, and eyes. (From: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/what-is-diabetes )
Many members of the National Federation of the Blind are very familiar with diabetes because one of the potential negative health effects of the disease is diabetic retinopathy, which is "a progressive eye condition where the blood vessels around the retina get progressively damaged by high blood sugar levels, and is the top cause of blindness among working-age adults. (From: https://assileye.com/blog/diabetes-leading-cause-of-blindness/ )
Interestingly enough, with my mother, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, and other family members experiencing diabetes, I did not come to know blindness because of diabetes. I became blind due to retinitis pigmentosa at the age of twenty-five with no other health complications and paid no attention to the fact that I was at high risk for diabetes. Moreover, despite years of warnings from my primary care physician about being "borderline diabetic," I still took no steps to alter my eating or exercise habits.
For those currently exercising the same strategy of inaction, I offer the following: ignoring health concerns is not a good strategy for prevention. Additionally, I ignored common symptoms of diabetes. I appreciated the weight loss and attributed it to better living. The constant need to urinate just became part of my day-to-day life. Ignorance was only bliss for a little while.
Around age fifty-five, I finally crossed the borderline and became an official Type II diabetic. The actual diagnosis was intimidating. I had so many questions. How would this change my life? What would I need to stop eating? Would I need to have insulin injections? Most importantly, would I need to give up chocolate?
An additionally disturbing potential consequence of diabetes is diabetic neuropathy, "nerve damage that is caused by diabetes that, in the case of peripheral neuropathy, typically affects the feet and legs and sometimes affects the hands and arms. (From: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/preventing-problems/nerve-damage-diabetic-neuropathies/what-is-diabetic-neuropathy ) Diabetic neuropathy can be doubly damaging for blind people, as the loss of eyesight can also be complicated with the loss of sensitivity in the hands and feet, making it difficult for a blind person to read Braille or gain access to environmental information tactually through their hands and feet.
Now I realized why I had the tingling in my feet at night, which was scary because I had friends who had toes and other body parts amputated as a result of their diabetes. Thankfully my diabetes can currently be treated with oral medication, but I realize that I am at another borderline, and unless I make some significant lifestyle changes, diabetes could lead to so many other health complications. My overachieving Air Force colonel, trauma surgeon, ordained minister cousin made it plain when he told me that "You don't know the damage diabetes is doing to your body until the damage has been done.
Finally, realizing that this is a serious health concern that I should address immediately, I began making better decisions on what to eat and started a simple exercise routine. My cousin emphasized the importance of changing my diet and increasing my exercise. He also explained that working out the larger muscles burns more sugar, so I added squats, lunges, and push-ups to my workout. I do not mean to infer that this is simple, and that I consistently adhere to a new diet and exercise regularly. It is difficult and takes work. I still cheat a little when there is a delicious chocolate cake on the menu, and I still miss a few days of my morning exercises. However, I am dedicated to continuing moving in a positive direction toward making these changes, and I take three steps forward for every one or two steps backward.
It is somewhat advantageous that blindness came before diabetes. Otherwise, I may not have become aware of my greatest resource, the NFB Diabetes Action Network (DAN) . The DAN is one of the many affinity groups of the NFB made up of blind diabetics that, through our collective action and a shared lived experience, provide information and support to one another; seek to promote systemic change to improve the lives of blind people; collaborate with technology developers to innovate dynamic means for blind people to access information; and in this particular case, strive to work with medical professionals to ensure that those individuals who experience blindness as a result of diabetes realize that they can still live the lives they want.
Members of the DAN have assisted me by sharing suggestions on healthy snacks that would replace my sugar-filled favorites and are equally delicious. Our conversations about accessible ways to monitor glucose initially helped me understand how to use an accessible glucometer and have evolved to my current use of a glucose sensor that monitors my glucose throughout the day and is accessed using a smartphone app. I can better understand the meaning of A1C as a result of common-sense discussions with others. I strongly encourage all blind diabetics to join this dynamic division.
DAN members have done some initial work of assisting to develop accessible insulin pumps by engaging with several manufacturers through the creation of our Accessible Insulin Pump Task Force, and we will be expanding that work through our new Accessible Diabetes Devices Work Group. We believe this work will eventually lead to the development of an accessible bionic pancreas and will support our Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act legislative efforts because there is definitely a link between legislation and progress and the reverse of that, progress leading to legislation. Our participation in these initiatives will not only result in the development of medical devices that are nonvisually accessible to blind users; it will result in the creation of multimodal devices that are easier and safer for everyone to use.
We believe that by bringing blind people, medical professionals, technology developers, and medical device manufacturers together, we can build on our collective knowledge toward creating enhanced treatment strategies that will result in improved quality of life for all. Our first "Knowledge is Sweet" conference held earlier this year educated, entertained, and inspired others to take control of their diabetes and was a successful start to what we hope to be an ongoing annual conference. We are already making plans for our 2025 conference that will be held at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute on a date to be announced.
The National Federation of the Blind continues to assert that blind people have the right to live in the world. The work we conduct through our NFB Diabetes Action Network actively seeks to bring awareness of the intersection of blindness and diabetes and highlights how society can be improved through our full participation. We are happy to recognize November as National Diabetes Awareness Month and celebrate November 14 as National Diabetes Day.
Whether you are blind or sighted, you can take steps to prevent acquiring diabetes. If you have diabetes, "you can lower your chances of developing diabetes health problems by taking steps to improve your health and learning how to manage the disease. Managing your blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels can help prevent future health problems. (From: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/what-is-diabetes ) Most importantly, if you are blind and have diabetes, remember that you can live the life you want; neither blindness nor diabetes holds you back.
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