We Won, Change 4 Life will be changed but......

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Adrienne

Adrienne

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Relationship to Diabetes
Parent
Hi all those who supported and signed the petition.

We have actually won a massive victory today. I don't know of any petition or campaign that has been changed so quick. There were 634 signatures, plus there was a group of people working in the background bombarding all sponsors of the campaign and advert and all newspapers, national and local and TV programmes, news and others, MPs etc etc.

The email that 10 Downing Street have sent out today, for those who haven't received it, says :

"You recently signed a petition asking the Prime Minister to "Ensure the
Change4life campaign specifies ONLY Type2 Diabetes CAN be brought on by
lifestyle & Type1 cannot as it is an autoimmune disease"
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/change4life/

You may wish to be aware that following discussions with Diabetes UK, the
Department of Health have decided to modify the Change4Life advertising
materials to make clear that obesity leads to type 2 diabetes.

Prime Minister's Office

Petition information - http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/change4life/

If you would like to opt out of receiving further mail on this or any other
petitions you signed, please email optout@petitions.pm.gov.uk"

Now as yet we don't know the actual wording they are going to use. They also say that 'modify advertising material' this would include the advert. We believe that yesterday they put out a shortened advert which did not mention diabetes, heart conditions or cancer but we are not as yet sure whether this is the changed one or not. One of our signatories is a TV producer and has said it does not cost a lot to get a voiceover changed. So we shall wait and see.

Our aim was primarily to protect the children with type 1 which we seem to have achieved, so a huge huge thank you to everyone who has helped in any way. I know that lots of people with type 2 also signed this petition and for that we thank you, we know full well that many people who got type 2 diabetes did so through no fault of their own and it had nothing to do with weight and lifestyle so for that we also thank you for helping us.

I do want to point out though that this change has been made due to some very hard dedicated people who do not work for DUK. We are also thinking that there could be other groups of people making complaints due to the cancer wording and heart condition wording, but regardless of this, it is not down to DUK.

We may well continue with this campaign in some way, discussions are still being held and if anyone is interested then I will keep you informed.

Again thank you

Adrienne x :D:DD🙂:D
 
thats fantastic!!

I did wonder if other groups mentioned were campaigning too. I think something on this scale with government backing should really have consulted groups for advice.
 
Great! My son has only been diagnosed type 1 6 weeks ago - and we were both upset at this particular advert, in case someone at school decided to 'bully' him for eating the wrong foods. Before diagnosis he was an active slim 10 year old who ate healthily (mostly) and the last thing he needed was to feel that being diabetic was somehow a 'lifestyle induced illness' - so well done!
 
YAY! I'm genuinely elated at this news. Having type one mistaken for a lifestyle disease is probably the thing in life that annoys me the most. I know that might sound really silly and shallow but it really does, because I dislike the you brought this on yourself stigma. So thankyou very very VERY VERY much to everyone who was involved in this petition. You have made my week. 🙂 Sadly, I wasn't involved but I wish I was and so thankyou to everyone who was because you acted on behalf of not only yourselves, but also every other type one diabetic out there who just didn't know about the petition.
 
Hi Eyeko

Thanks for that. There is a still a group beavering away as although we have been told they will change it, they have not actually contacted any of us personally. We received a short email from the website of 10 Downing Street's petitions and saw the Telegraph article. The problem is, is that the advert is still showing in full, ie this morning on Nickelodeon which is not good. We have heard it will not cost a penny to alter it so we think it should be taken off air immediately and changed. We have written more emails to the powers that be and asked for personal confirmation and also confirmation that they wording be somewhere the along the lines of 'it MAY lead to type 2' as it is no good them getting it wrong and insulting lots of type 2 suffers who backed us as well. Why they consulted DUK we have no idea, they are partners in this anyway have admitted they knew about it all before it was launched so the wording should have been right in the first place.

I agree with, I think it was Sofaraway, they should have consulted those that really know what it's like living with a child with type 1 who is getting bullied at school. I have friends where this is happening to their child.

I'll keep you posted on what is happening.
Thanks for your support.
 
Oh, sorry to hear that! But also glad to hear you are all going to keep on going. Children are really impressionable and having them bullied because of incorrect information given to them via cartoons is just not on. I'm sorry to hear of any bullying whatsoever and feel that I must add that during my first year of high school, shortly after being diagnosed I too, did experience many of the older boys in their final year of school coming up to me and saying that I was a drug addict and on heroin. All this because they saw me inject insulin! At the time it made me feel quite shy of injecting in public, not aided by the fact that I am naturally quite shy, quiet and underconfident. However I must add that although it was unpleasant at the time, this only made me stronger as I have grown older and developed more as a person. I feel that at last I am finally regaining my confidence and beginning to accept that yes I am a diabetic, yes I do take injections but that isn't a big deal. That's just my thing and anyone else can think what they like about it. 🙂 So it is really important things continue to be done to prevent this as much as possible. We really don't want to be living in a world where children are issued wrong information and then use this as verbal ammunition against others.
 
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