The Benefits of Becoming Visible

This year's JDRF walk had what we thought was a particularly cool new twist.  The walkers with diabetes were given the special blue shirts pictured below:

 

 

 

Suddenly we were aware (there's that big November word again!) of all of the people around us who had diabetes.  People of all ages and from all walks of life were walking around in these blue t-shirts, instantly identifiable as PWDs (people with diabetes) to the world around them.  People in blue shirts were nodding and smiling at each other.  Parents pushing a stroller containing a toddler in a blue shirt had other parents of blue-shirted people coming up to them and offering support.  A blue shirt made the wearer the star of the show, if only for a couple of hours.

 

There are some plusses to having an invisible illness- I've covered them here before.  But along the lines of these shirts and of JDRF's T1D looks like me campaign this November, there are some plusses to being visible once in a while too.  A big one is PWD's and those who love them finding each other for support. 

 

Are there ways, even without the blue shirts, we can be more aware of and supportive of the people we know who are on this diabetes path with us?  Can we be more attuned to picking strangers with diabetes out of the crowd?  Even a smile and a nod go a long way towards not feeling alone.