Oh well. That's not really what I wanted to write about.
I guess October is also Cancer awareness month. Is anyone else seeing pink everywhere? Chuck and I were watching the Charger football game and some of the players were wearing pink shoes. They had small, pink ribbons painted on their helmets.
There are commercials and billboards. Busses and radio promotions. All about cancer awareness. I picked up Beth's prescription this week and the childproof cap... was pink. Pink is everywhere! And it awesome! Such creativity to bring awareness to a difficult, way too common disease. (Is cancer considered a disease? I don't know and I'm so afraid of offending people.)
Anyway, what I'm curious about is why haven't I seen any Down Syndrome awareness spots on TV? Where are the radio spots for the Buddy Walks? Why hasn't the NDSS promoted Down Syndrome? Why haven't we seen more blue and yellow ribbons around this month?
At the Puget Sound Buddy Walk this year they told us that two years ago they raised $5000. Last year they raised $11,000. This year, they raised over $30,000!! That's huge! It's exciting that the money will go toward... you know, I have no idea what the money goes toward. Maybe I should look into it.
Now, if you've made it this far and are still reading, let me just say, I'm not angry that I haven't seen blue and yellow ribbons. I'm just curious why? I haven't contributed financially to the NDSS or even to the Buddy Walk so I know I don't get a say in where the money should go. I guess, for the first time, I'm just aware that Down Syndrome awareness month doesn't seem to be publicized outside of the Down Syndrome community. (Am I just missing it?)
Personally, I don't feel that my blogging every day is bringing awareness because I think about 97% of the people that read my blog have children or siblings that have Down Syndrome. They're already aware.
Maybe I need to start posting more on facebook, where most of my friends aren't aware. Maybe I need to hang blue and yellow curling ribbon from my rear view mirror. Maybe I need to step up.
I'm excited to see so much pink. A co-worker of Chuck's just lost her battle with cancer. I followed her blog until last year when she was given the 'all-clear' from her doctor. Then, it returned. She was on vacation in Hawaii last week when she was rushed to the hospital. They flew her home just in time for her to say goodbye to her family. It's heartbreaking. I wish there were more pink ribbons and lids and helmets!
I also wish there were more blue and yellow...
3 comments:
I know what you mean! I've been posting links to all my blog posts on my facebook wall - because most of those friends are not part of the Down syndrome community. And I've gotten a couple of sweet comments from friends - so hopefully they are at least a little more aware. Although ... I haven't been giving out a ton of Ds information this month. I've just been trying to post every day. It's hard to do.
I too have been posting my blog links onto FB since I do have a lot of friends that don't have experience with Ds. In fact many of them had no clue it was Ds awareness month, but did know it was Breast Cancer Awareness month. I think Komen's voice is much louder than our national organizations are and they spend a lot of money on advertising their walks. I'm also guessing that because breast cancer affects so many people, it's much more prevalent in society than Ds. It would be great to see more Yellow and Blue though.
Very insightful and some great questions. I think the 'pink stuff' comes from sponsors who are basically spending money they are 'donating' to breast cancer awareness on creating the pink stuff. So I think it is all about money. I don't think NDSS necessarily has relationships with sponsors who have the money to do this. Also, I think it is because so many people (the sponsor companies included) have been impacted personally by Breast Cancer. ALL the more reason to keep shouting about Ds!!!
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