<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Dear Listmates: On Aug. 15 the NYTimes ran an article on people (mostly women) with autoimmune disorders. In the article was quite accurately depicted (from my point of view) the all-too-familiar routine of endless visits to MD's with no overall guidance in making medical decisions and/or managing day-to-day living. (The article can be purchased for $2.50 from the on-line NYTimes (www.nytimes.com) Archives: If you search autoimmune diseases it is article #16, as of 8/15/00.) Calling the article to the attention of this list yielded some interesting thoughts: First, that the NYTimes has lately skirted the issue of Celiac Disease without ever once mentioning it--in recent articles on IBS, and fibromyalgia, for example. I do believe that one reason the Times and other papers do not mention CD is because we have reputations as people who do NOT eat things, rather than as people who DO eat, and eat very well, indeed. In other words, most newspapers--certainly the NYTimes--are consumer-oriented, i.e., business-oriented. If we really want the local press to pay attention to us we should call attention to the growing specialty businesses that cater to our needs and which we all too happily patronize. I take notice of the articles about Senator Lieberman's kosher eating...maybe this is a good time for all people with special dietary requirements to be noticed in a positive, that is to say, hopeful and sympathetic light. Nancy in nyc