Language matters!

Status
Not open for further replies.
@Fractis

@Fractis

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
We have known for a long time that that the use of language by healthcare professionals can have a profound impact on those of us that live with diabetes, but the experience of lots of people I have spoken to is that the day to day use of language is very inconsistent.

Good use of language can help lower our anxiety, build our confidence and help us care for ourselves. By the same token, poor communication can be stigmatising, hurtful & undermining of our self-care.

A group of us including professionals, NHS England and voluntary sector organisations such as Diabetes UK have been working to create a UK statement that raises awareness of and promotes the best use of language in relation to diabetes and people living with it.

We would love to bring this to life with some real examples, good and bad, of how language is used in the UK. Can you help us out by taking part in this anonymous and very short (3 questions!) survey?

 
Hi Bob!

Great to 'see' you again. Hope you are keeping well 🙂
 
Hi Mike, likewise; sorry it’s been a while. Will you be at DPC irvthe DPC Insider Event?
 
Would love to, but it seems next to impossible these days. Apparently I may get access to DUKPC as I am volunteering to support a clinical trial - as a result I’ve not paid to attend the after-DUKPC day - this may end up being a mistake as the trial thing may not come off.

DUK seem pretty determined to keep patient voices/observers out of the conference though. A pity I think.
 
I really don’t have any issues as to how I’m referred (diabetic, person with diabetes, diabetic patient) heck even when people say that I suffer with diabetes it really doesn’t bother me so much.

What does bother me is people saying I’m a burden or other misconceptions.
 
Hi Fractis, I am fairly new on here but I can understand exactly the problems you are trying to address, there is one more major factor that i think you may be forgetting to mention is that a lot of people suffer with deafness and hearing problems . I am profoundly deaf in one ear and severely deaf in the other , I wear a baha hearing device although it does not help greatly . I find that the majority of health care workers will speak clearly and accept the hearing problems of patients but there are a few health service staff including doctors who can be quite ignorant towards people with hearing difficulties and I think this is a wide problem that needs addressing. It would be interesting to listen to what other people have to say on this matter.
 
I haven't personally met the problem fortunately - but it's perfectly true that some personalities also have heavy foreign accents that are hard enough for folk without hearing problems to grasp - or turn of phrase that don't 'mesh' well into whatever discussion you are having, so you get an unexpected remark and may not grasp the meaning of and whether it matters.
 
peter poppet said:
Hi Fractis, I am fairly new on here but I can understand exactly the problems you are trying to address, there is one more major factor that i think you may be forgetting to mention is that a lot of people suffer with deafness and hearing problems . I am profoundly deaf in one ear and severely deaf in the other , I wear a baha hearing device although it does not help greatly . I find that the majority of health care workers will speak clearly and accept the hearing problems of patients but there are a few health service staff including doctors who can be quite ignorant towards people with hearing difficulties and I think this is a wide problem that needs addressing. It would be interesting to listen to what other people have to say on this matter.
Click to expand...
This would make an interesting thread on it's own merit I feel @peter poppet
My ex-wife who is T1 is also profoundly deaf and has had implants and I know she has serious problems.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top