What do you think

General
1

so my cousin helped me write a letter to my school principle..i need help fixing it up..its na supposed ta be really formal, its just ta get tha point across..plus he hates formal(tha principle)..so tell me what you think......i dont know how ta add tha about diabetes part in there..i had ta write tha letter instead of talking ta him in person because he never has a spare moment, and i dont write letters, so this ones pretty messed up..

 

 

Mr. Klutz,

My name is Jessica Fish. I am 16 years old. I started attending Jesse Carson High School at the beginning of November 2009. You will have to forgive me I don’t usually write letters that I feel are this important, so I’m not too sure how.

The reason I am writing this letter is because I have noticed a lot of ignorance, and discrimination at Carson. I’m not talking about like racism. Instead about chronic illnesses.

I have type 1 diabetes, and have had it since age 3. I was diagnosed in February 1996. I have saw a lot of the same things I see at Carson, other places throughout my life. I know that you cant end the way people think, and act about different things, but I would like to try and help the students and staff of Jesse Carson understand my illness.

I have been informed day 1 at your school that there are many other type 1 students here. I have met one of them, in a class last semester. This student was ashamed of being diabetic, because of the way some people treat him. The student talked to me about how it makes him feel when people give him looks, or talk about him. This student should not have at hide his illness just because the way people at school treat him.

Also, I was again informed on day one at Carson that there was no full time nurse. That may not seem like a huge problem to you or the school, and I understand the economy is bad, and it costs money to hire one full time. My issue with this is that being that there is no nurse, do you have other staff at the school trained to help if something is seriously wrong. For example being a diabetic, if one of the diabetics at your school went into DKA(Diabetic Ketoacidosis), or a seizure would any of the staff know what to do? Would they be able to react in a matter of a second to the situation, and know what to do to help? Or would that student have to just wait for an ambulance to get there before getting any help? These are very serious things, DKA, can cause you to go into a coma, and can cause death if not put under control right away, as could a diabetic seizure.

My point in telling you, and asking you all of this is to ask you if you will allow me to hold an assembly at Jesse Carson for the students and staff. This assembly would be very beneficial. It would help the teachers know what they can do to help if we(students with diabetes) need help. Also, it would help the teachers understand that we cant always stay focused, and do our work, due to blood sugars. Next, it would help the students, and staff understand what diabetes is. It would also benefit the other diabetics of the school. I believe that it will make them more comfortable with who they are with their diabetes if the school is informed about it. The goal of this assembly will be as it always has been for the diabetic community, to help end the confusion, ignorance, and discrimination against diabetes.

Okay I’ve wrote you a letter about diabetes, and you may not know what type 1 diabetes is. So I will try to explain it to you through what my daily routine is with diabetes.

I wake up in the morning and have to immediately check my blood sugars. Then I have to a) if my blood sugars are low I have to get food, and juice to get them up where they need to be, b) if they’re high I have to give myself insulin to get them down where they need to be. Then, once all is well I can get around. All day during school I have to check my blood sugars. My day at school depends on my blood sugars. If they’re off my concentration, and ability to comprehend will be too. Also depending on my numbers I may or may not be able to participate in certain activities. For example when I was ion weight room last semester I hardly was able to participate at all due to high blood sugars. Then when I go home I may or may not be able to eat as much at dinner as I’m hungry for, also depending on my blood sugars. So basically, I don’t know what my day is ever going to look like.

So please at least consider allowing me to have this assembly. I can tell you that I had one kind of similar to what I’m asking you to let me have, in elementary school. Even in elementary school it helped the kids understand, and pick on me less. It also helped the teachers understand why I have to use the bathroom, or drink a lot.

Sincerely,

Jessica Fish

Junior at Carson

2

Good start...here is a good article that may be of help. 

"Etiquette for People Without Diabetes" http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2009/12/07/6474/etiquette-for-people-without-diabetes/

There are 10 good etiquette guidelines for the "others" to follow to help.

3

Good for you.  You should be very proud of yourself for not being ashamed of being a diabetic and for wanting to educate others.  It's very commendable.

4

Jessica, I commend you for taking a very mature approach to your problem. If you do it right you will leave a lasting impression with a lot of people, and it will benefit all the diabetics in your school. I hope you will be successful.

Tom

5

Wow, good for you. I love how you're taking the iniative to point out the problem in your school and then provide a solution. Good luck!!! I think this is great :)

6

Hi Jessarae,

Read it liked it. Darn I copied and pasted your name and my font changed. LOL The only things I noticed was maybe some wording. Instead of ignorance how about misunderstanding. Some people take offense to ignorance. One last thing,  also talk about low blood sugar, does someone at school know how to do the shots for low blood sugar or even use a glucose meter?? You're doing a great job.


7

thanks everyone. i did this at my old elementary school in about 3rd grade ans other times. its different with high school though. lol and i wrote two of them im kinna gunna try and combine them because there is this one and then tha otherone which is tha one i thought i posted, tha other one turned out much better. ii dont try ta make people feel bad for type 1's, or me. i hate peoples pity. its one thing ta pity someone for something, and a completely different thing ta support them , and care. i like people ta care, and try ta understand na ta pittly me. my cousin and i were talking about all tha diabetes stuff i was told at a young age when icould understand it, and one thing he told me that i should really put in their is that type 1 diabetes is tha 4th major cause of death in tha US.....thats a huge one, ba then again should i put it in this letter, or talk about it when tha time comes. i dont wanna be like this is a pitty fest, because it aint. i just wanna try and help others understand, and feel more comfortable with who they are if they have type 1.

also my goal since i was a small child has well a) become a vet, but i moved past that lol. what i really wanna do is travel tha world talking about type 1 diabetes, and try ta end tha confusion, and misunderstanding(i do like this one better :) ) that people have.

i will keep everyone updadted with how this all is going. and any suggestions of any other way of getting tha informatioin out, na just at ma school, but other things I can do ta help speek about type 1, well theyd be much appreciated. thanks again every one.

Jessarae

8

okay edited some spots added some things..i think this ones good..do yall think this ones a keeper im trying ta give it ta him by friday of this week thats less tahn 2 days :)

 

 

Mr. Klutz,

My name is Jessica Fish. I am 16 years old. I started attending Jesse Carson High School at the beginning of November 2009. You will have to forgive me I don’t usually write letters that I feel are this important, so I’m not too sure how.

The reason I am writing this letter is because I have noticed a lot of misunderstanding, and discrimination at Carson. I’m not talking about things like racism. Instead about chronic illnesses.

I have type 1 diabetes, and have had it since age 3. I was diagnosed in February 1997. I have saw a lot of the same things I see at Carson, other places throughout my life. I know that you cant end the way people think, and act about different things, but I would like to try and help the students and staff of Jesse Carson understand my illness.

It is very upsetting at times to hear the way people talk about this illness. I am sure anyone with any kind of illness will defend their illness if someone is wrongly talking about it. This is a natural defensive reaction.

I have been informed day one at your school that there are many other type 1 diabetic students here. I have met one of them, in a class last semester. This student was ashamed of being diabetic, because of the way some people treat him. The student talked to me about how it makes him feel when people give him looks, or talk about him. This student should not have at hide his illness just because the way people at school treat him.

Also, I was again informed on day one at Carson that there was no full time nurse. That may not seem like a huge problem to you or the school, and I understand the economy is bad, and it costs money to hire one full time. My issue with this is that being that there is no nurse, do you have other staff at the school trained to help if something is seriously wrong?

For example being a type 1 diabetic, if one of the diabetics at your school went into DKA(Diabetic Ketoacidosis) would any of the staff know what to do? Do they even know what Diabetic Ketoacidosis is? What if one of the type 1 diabetics blood sugars went low would anyone know what to do? Are any of the staff members certified to be able to give shots? Would they be able to react in a matter of a second to the situation, and know what to do to help? Or would that student have to just wait for an ambulance to get there before getting any help?

These are very serious things, DKA, can cause you to go into a coma, and can cause death if not put under control right away. Low blood sugars could cause seizures, a coma, and again can cause death if not put under control right away.

Diabetes also has effects on how you can think, react to a situation, and comprehend anything. When your blood sugars are off you go into a state of confusion, or can even black out and not know what is going on at all. Blood sugars are not an excuse for poor grades, or messing around during school. Yet they can be a reason for off concentration, an A student failing a test, and many other things.

My point in telling you, and asking you all of this is to ask you if you will allow me to hold an assembly at Jesse Carson for the students and staff. This assembly would be very beneficial. It would help the teachers know what they can do to help if we(students with type 1 diabetes) need help. Also, it would help the teachers understand why we cant always stay focused, and do our work, due to blood sugars. Next, it would help the students, and staff understand what type 1 diabetes is, and the difference between type 1 and type 2. It would also benefit the other type 1 diabetics of the school. I believe that it will make them more comfortable with who they are with their type 1diabetes if the school is informed about it. The goal of this assembly will be as it always has been for the type 1 diabetic community, to help end the confusion, misunderstanding, and discrimination about and against diabetes.

Okay I’ve wrote you a letter about diabetes, and you may not know what type 1 diabetes is. So I will try to explain it to you through what my daily routine is with type 1 diabetes.

I wake up in the morning and have to immediately check my blood sugars. Then I have to : a) if my blood sugars are low I have to get food, and juice to get them up where they need to be, b) if they’re high I have to give myself insulin to get them down where they need to be. Then, once all is well I can get around. All day during school I have to check my blood sugars. My day at school depends on my blood sugars. If they’re off my concentration, and ability to comprehend will be too. Also depending on my numbers I may or may not be able to participate in certain activities. For example when I was in weight room last semester I hardly was able to participate at all due to high blood sugars. Then when I go home I may or may not be able to eat as much at dinner as I am hungry for, also depending on my blood sugars. So basically, I don’t know what my day is ever going to look like.

So please at least consider allowing me to have this assembly. I can tell you that I had one kind of similar to what I’m asking you to let me have, in elementary school. Even in elementary school it helped the kids understand, and pick on me less. It also helped the teachers understand why I have to use the bathroom, or drink a lot.

Sincerely,

Jessica Fish

Junior at Carson

9

Jessica,

This is AMAZING!  I love that you are taking the initiative to educate people at your school about Type 1.  I think that much of the discrimination you feel probably stems from people's confusion about Type 1 and Type 2.  Having an assembly that focuses on Type 1 is an awesome way to educate people and make them realize that they are completely different diseases!  Good luck!

Molly

10

thanks Molly. ive done these types of things before i started when i was really young. i had ta do it like almost every year through out elementary school, and middle, na so much in high school. i just moved from NY ta NC on halloween, and so far it just ehhhk trying ta get ma new teachers ta understand why i need ta use tha bathroom all tha time, and that they will na be taking ma water away from me. it been tha biggest pain so far. this is tha first time i have moved ma whole life. ba ya. im na doing this for me really as much as i am ta educate others, and help tha type 1's at tha school feel comfortable with themselves, and ta benefit those type 1's after me :) so thanks for tha support.

11

[quote user="Jessarae"]I have been informed day one at your school that there are many other type 1 diabetic students here. I have met one of them, in a class last semester. This student was ashamed of being diabetic, because of the way some people treat him. The student talked to me about how it makes him feel when people give him looks, or talk about him. This student should not have at hide his illness just because the way people at school treat him.[/quote]

 

You refer to it as "your school". You are a student there, so wouldn't it be more effective to refer to it as "our school"? I think that would help to show that you are part of it and want to improve the situation. One letter makes a big difference.

 

Tom

12

ya that sounds like a good idea. it does make sence. thanks tom. i will most defenitaly change that part.