<<Disclaimer:  Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
Maybe somebody can set me straight. I attended a Celiac Support Group
luncheon where the whole emphasis was on Celiac Services. Nutritionists,
food vendors, special recipes.
 
We were told that Society has no responsibility to have us fit into
communities. If we go to the hospital, we should pack our own food that
we have made up from special food-products.Don't expect manufacturers
to plainly break down "mystery" ingredients on their labels. If you
don't know, don't buy it!. Only order certain foods at a restaurant. If
you want other accompaniements, carry them from home. Of course, you
don't get a discount on the bill for carrying your own! We have a
responsibility to help specialty stores make a profit on our ailment.
 
It is up to us to make up education kits to impart knowledge on
Celias/Sprue to gastroenterologists, registered dieticians and other
health professionals. Then, apparently, they can  charge us a fee for
telling us to go home and care for ourselves.
 
Hospitals cannot be expected to check our food. There are other patients
more worthy of their attention. Besides, the kitchens are too
contaminated to fix celiac food properly. Doesn't this same contamination
affect the O.K. foods they serve?
 
I guess our Support Groups will never make any progress in helping
Celiacs to feel like real people.
 
I stated that I thought taking and toting and never expecting any
concessions from society in general, was setting our cause back. Our
Nutritionist Advisor told me we could argue all day, but, it was better
to face "reality". What is reality? Aren't we supposed to try to evince
change? This makes us all seem like craven cowards. Why should there be
wheelchair ramps? Can't the wheelchair people just stay home and not
bother others? Doesn't sound nice, does it? Yet people expect celiacs
to either stay home or do their own arrangements, for travel, recreation,
etc.
 
Of course, nobody ever died of Celiac-Sprue! When a Celiac gets
critical from celiac-associated conditions, the diagnosis is changed to
something else-Lymphoma, whatever.
 
I never spent so much time listening to why I should make sure others
profit from my misery, without ever expecting any concessions.  C'mon
set me straight! AMS
 
What if doctors stopped using sterile technique in the operating room,
because some people were less prone to infections than others?