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Thanks to the many people that responded. I was writing about the Satellite Sisters to our local station's program director, who had asked me to give him reasons that a program about CD would be of interest to the general public.  Here is what I wrote in part.  Unfortunately it is not as accurate as it should have been, as my computer or server delayed all the messages that would have corrected the errors :-).  Now I think that I should have gleaned ideas for the letter from the list members in the first place.  Well, live and learn.  

"Thirdly, raising the public's awareness of any health handicap has always led to a better quality of life for those affected by it.  Wheelchair accessibility, for instance, is the result of educating the general public.  The more people come to understand the nature of this disease, the more its sufferers will be treated with greater kindness,  understanding and helpfulness by people in the non-celiac population:  family members, friends, restaurant staff and foodstore buyers, hospital dieticians, etc.  A recent airing of NPR's program " The (?) Sisters"  jokingly included in a list of  "Unwanted Opening Lines" :   "The mother with the gluten-free kids who wants to join your neighborhood playgroup".  The women involved in the show had never heard of celiac disease and were horrified to learn  that for these children a gluten-free diet is not an option or a fad diet imposed on them by fanatic parents, but as  necessary as a sugar-free diet would be to a diabetic child.  They publicly acknowledged their blunder , issued kind apologies to individuals who had contacted them, and are gathering information so they can do a show on the subject in the near future."

* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *