Depend #underwareness

[Tarlton]

In some research I did for an ableism paper, I really enjoyed their term for "normal" people that I think hits the nail on the head. "Temporarily Abled" vs. Disabled.

Meaning, all of us, eventually, will become disabled in some manner. It is only a matter of time. That wording really takes the wind out of one's sails. But I agree completely that we have essentially a slew of teenagers in adult bodies that feel entitled to belittle and judge anything and anyone as cruelly as possible....

until it happens to them...

[Rope_Wrench]

Tom,

That is an interesting and very observant point of view. Reading your thoughts, I look at myself and where I was not just a few years ago. I am embarrassed to admit I that I too use to be one of those people that incontinence and a "diaper" was nothing but a punchline. Back then, I would never have thought I would be so effected by something like this but since it has happened I am much more sensitive to a lot of the other stigmatize conditions out there. Best example would be be people suffering from mental retardation. It was not uncommon to hear the word retarded or even worse retard. It was a very insensitive thing to say but it was not till something became personal and opened my eyes.
The extra hurdle we have having to deal with incontince is the fact that this is a concealed condition that no one sees so it turns out to be one of those out of sight, out of mind things. Its a shame because there are so many people out there that suffer but because we hide this so well, we feel alone and it never really get a face attached to it for some people. And because it does not become personal for some, they never grow up and learn what they are doing.

[Papa]

Tom and Rope,
As we used to say in Nam.
"There it is!" Papa

[WetDad]

I am pleased with the direction K-C has taken with this ad campaign, and here's why.
1. My generation and older is far too set in their ways to change. Until they need diapers themselves they will see me as something less than I am.
2. The much younger generation this is targeted to is far more open minded - look at their tolerance of the LGBT community.
3. It would make my life easier if I didn't have to hide my incon treatment so much. I do that because of the ignorant bastids who have made rude judgements about me in the past.
4. There is a sense of "you're not alone" when you hear the statistics quoted by this campaign. Maybe it will soak in to the general population as well. (pun intended)

Would I ever post a public photo of myself in Depends? Hell no! I won't encourage others to either. But I do wish K-C well with their attempt to tell their message to the world. BTW, I have been vocal to K-C about how they need to tell the world how many of us need these products to help de-stigmatize incontinence. It looks like they listened.

[wheels5894]

I quite agree, WetDad, yet I wonder just how much difference it makes to the world. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was fitted with a hearing aid for the first time last year and it seems the 'deaf' jokes about such things are still around - to the extent I can quite imagine people not wanting to wear one in public in case their friends saw it. (Note, I find it odd how a hearing aid is joke worthy whilst spectacles are not!)

Now, if something as small and innocuous as a hearing aid brings out the worst in people, are nappies (diapers) going to fare any better? I hardly think so. Then again, for the most part we tend to avoid talking about etc. things to do with 'down there' so it is possible people are either not interested or embarrassed to talk or discuss such things.

Oddly, as a wheelchair user, I have never had anything really mentioned to me about the wheelchair, after I had met people on a first occasion and yet my wheelchair is a symbol of disability in the same way that nappies or other drainage tools are. I do really think it is to do with the area of the body affected since talking about being paralysed (as long as one doesn't mention bodily functions) is not embarrassing!

I wish the campaign good luck but i think it's bound to fail.

[Scott902]

Wheels, i think that is due to people mainly understanding and even feeling sorry for someone in a wheelchair, as it is more noticeable than something like incontinence is, to outsiders.

Personally, I like the moral behind what Depend is doing, but I agree that their way of doing it, leaves a lot to be desired.
I'll bet more AB/DL's will have their pics and vids up than true incontinent people.

[wheels5894]

Good point, Mike, though I think some of it is down to the fact that one can talk about paralysis and wheelchairs as they are not embarrassing topics like continence and the body parts involved is.

Yes, and wait to see all the AB/DLs on the picture board. Mind you, they boost the cause, I suppose, by making the wearing of nappies (sorry, diapers) more normal.

[Patrick]

I have dealt with bi-lateral (both ears) Meniere's disease since 1980. It hospitalized me the last two weeks of October, 1982, and a week in April, 1992. If you can imagine, or if you have actually ridden, a ride in an amusement park or a county fair whose sole purpose was to assault the balance mechanisms of its riders, then if you cube that and make it last for anything from ten seconds to six weeks, you have my experience of Meniere's disease. Meniere's was instrumental in my loss of two jobs, because my employers refused to accommodate my illness. Which is to say that incontinence is not the only stigmatized medical condition; there are many others. People can see my hearing aids, but, watching me stagger like a drunk, they don't connect my hearing aids to my drunken gait unless I tell them. They never see my diapers, which is the way I want it. I agree that the current KC ad campaign is far more likely to attract, and use, the AB/DL crowd than ourselves. My fear is that the (temporarily) able-bodied public will soon spot the fetishists in that campaign which will further intensify the stigma.

[Wetters]

That worries me, too. I'm afraid that the mainstream public will paint everyone with the same brush, and view those who wear protection, whether for incontinence or for sport, as AB/DL.

Wetters

[Papa]

Well, from my point of view. I will assume that most people who are not incontinent, as we all were at some time, even know there is a fetish. Did any of you know anything about being AB/DL or even what the letters meant before you were incontinent? I sure did not. We worry so much about a lot of things that really do not need worrying about. When you are not incontinent you never think about it, other than in jokes or dealing with an elder parent or from a medical point of view. Papa