Diapers

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Here is an off the wall idea. It seems like everything has a "National do something day". I think there should be a "National wear your diapers day." I think that would help with the social stigma of wearing diapers and not being stressed or the wonders of being noticed of wearing diapers. I think it could work. Tell me your thoughts on this.

 

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Sure, why not. Seems reasonable. I thought there was an incontinence awareness day though. Maybe NAFC or Northshore can tell us.

 

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I think it would be great in theory. I’m all about breaking the stigma. But I don’t understand the dynamics of it. How would it be different from every other day I wear diapers? Would people show them off, because that seems inappropriate?

 

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There is a world bedwetting awareness day held each year at the end of may. This was previously geared to children, but this year I think they expanded the age group.

 

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Hi @JWT Although I like the overall concept of what you're thinking,I think a National Wear Your Diapers Day would be lost on the general population. Sure it makes sense to us, as after all we do it to address a condition we have and it works for us. For someone not among the incontinent population that might be hard to explain.
A couple of years ago Depend had an Underwareness (or drop your drawers) campaign, which addressed the stigma of having to wear bladder control protection. I'm all for that, quite frankly. To me the message was, "hey, just because we need to wear protection we don't consider ourselves to be apart from the mainstream, and you shouldn't either." At least that's the way I saw it. Everybody here may chime in with your thoughts if you remember that campaign. As far as I'm concerned, I don't pay it any special mind myself because I just wear the protection I need and go about my business. I think the stigma we're trying to address here would be far greater if we DIDN'T wear what we needed and went around all day in wet clothes! :O
And @Danman, I read you loud and clear! The idea is to break the stigma but how would showing off your protection go over? We would be sympathetic of course. Might give us some ideas on how we can wear our "things" better. But comments on the Depend drop your drawers campaign ran the gamut from "it's about time they did something like this" to "Why are people showing off their underwear in broad daylight?" In a word a lot of people thought the Underwareness idea was inappropriate. I think something like a national incontinence awareness day would probably be better received overall. Let's work on that!

 

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What I don’t understand (REALLY I DO!) why don’t these manufacturers and retailers put together a series of well crafted ads much like I see ad nauseum for IBS, Psoriasis etc. etc. It’s the drug companies that are funding all of these ads that make IBS, Chron’s, chronic diarrhea etc. a part of daily conversation. I think if ONE of these drug companies had a drug that REALLY worked you would see an ad every 3 minutes on TV. At this point with millions of us quietly using / purchasing their products they see no need to combine and do a large scale campaign. The Depends ads only went so far because they are poor products for most of us that need them, so although it may have provided them with short term Return on investment, the users mostly moved on to products that actually work for us. Myrbetric touched on it for a while, but again had numerous competitors with the same drug and it continued the whisper campaign... I don’t know how to get the attention we would like, short of the manufacturers paying for it.
Just a few more thoughts!

 

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@JWT Interesting idea but I kinda agree with @billliveshere in that the general population would not get it or worst look at it as a joke.

There was World Continence Week back in June. I only found out just now when I went to see if there was a Incontinence awareness day. Apparently it was not heavily promoted. I also found that NAFC supports Bladder Health Awareness month in November. And as @artiejr mentioned there is bedwetting awareness day in May.

So there are awareness events out there but they do not seem to be promoted to the general public very much. At least not where I am.

I think ramping up, and as suggested, getting some high dollar supporting firms/companies to fund some promotional ads, print media, and now even more impactful buy social media advertising would go far in brining awareness about incontinence/enuresis (bedwetting) to the general public. And as hoped make it so if the topic came up those of us who deal with it do not feel embarrassed or stay silent in the conversation.

 

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Excellent comments, @Sprung87. I agree Depend products don't really fill the bill for a lot of us, although some of us use the Depends in addition to a more better-made product. I just wonder how many of the Depend users who saw that "drop your drawers" advertising did move on to products that work better.
And @JWT, thinking about this idea a bit more, I would think the focus would be not so much on a "National Wear Your Diapers Day," but on how wearing diapers, pull-ons, pads, etc., enable us to do things we ordinarily wouldn't be able to do, or are hesitant to try. How many people have we read about on forums like this who say they can't leave the house because they are afraid of an accident? Plenty, I bet. In other words, diapers are enabling. They shouldn't be the sign of disability, which is what I think goes through the minds of most of the general population. Admittedly a lot of people in nursing homes are incontinent, and that seems to be a fait accompli. But your idea focuses on the population who is not in nursing homes and are a part of the overall community. You wear a diaper and you shouldn't be regarded as disabled or useless, but you're seen as an active, thinking and participating part of where you live. And I think that describes all of us here. You do it because you care for yourself and you know how to handle what many would consider a debilitating condition. So does a focus on how diapers are enabling make sense? Of course!

 

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Depends was one of the first disposable diapers to hit the market and was top notch at that time. I believe it was in the early to mid 80s. Attends followed shortly thereafter and pushed depends down a notch.I find that depends and attends are a much lower quality than they used to be. Other products out there are much more absorbent. You need to experiment to find out which is best for you.

 

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Amen to that, J.T! Sadly enough those awareness programs that you mentioned do not get much promotion and that's rather unfortunate. Although I'm not well versed in the mechanics and financing of getting companies and non-profit groups to promote such a thing to the public, I think that is something worth considering and should be handled expertly. The general public needs to be aware of incontinence and enuresis issues as something that's reality and is not something people need to feel squeamish about. If that were to happen then maybe more would come forward and be willing to talk about it. In other words, "Hey! We've got this to deal with and this is how we handle it."

 

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Awesome thoughts from all that replied. I didn't know until today that there are campaigns out there. I do remember the depends ads. There are other ads out to, but not enough to strike up the awareness to make it stick in the general populations heads. The stigma still rules.
If you were the one in charge to draw up a campaign to erase the stigma that people have, what would your campaign be?

 

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Sure, why not. Seems reasonable. I thought there was an incontinence awareness day though. Maybe NAFC or Northshore can tell us.

There is a World Bedwetting Day out of England which is mostly geared for awareness of child nighttime bedwetting. See https://www.worldbedwettingday.com/

In the USA, when you try to promote that cause...you mostly get people making light of the issue by making childish comments about how fun it would be to participate in wetting their bed...

Hence, we added the "awareness" part to the title on our own when we reference this site or cause. Great content...bad title...at least for the level of maturity here in the U.S.

 

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Wow, @NorthShoreAdam, that really says a lot there! And you ain't kidding! Most sadly, something like that would probably fly like a lead balloon over here simply because people will make stupid comments and would tend to look down on those who really do have an issue with bedwetting (or incontinence in general for that matter). Hey folks, wake up! It's real! You're the ones with the problem, Not us! Well that was my rant for now!
And related to the maturity (or lack thereof) here in the U.S.A., emphasis should be on being aware of incontinence and how diapers and other supplies are enabling to us and should not be seen as something that's disabling.

 

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More what I had in mind was video of average people doing everyday things, that all kinds of people do every single day with a voice over stating the number of incontinent people you may see, work next to, ride the train with, beat your butt in sports etc. etc. each day without even knowing it.
(VIDEO) Look at the shelves in all of the grocery stores, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, ETC. loaded with adult diapers, that shelf space is EXPENSIVE!!!Who is buying all of these adult diapers??? That NORMAL PERSON next to you....
All of these YOUNG, ACTIVE people are able to live a normal life only by relying on the use of diapers. Stats/Stats/Stats 30+ million Americans, almost 1 in 10 (Depending on stats out there) adults live a NORMAL life every day because they utilize diapers so they are not ruining their clothes, their desk chair, car seat, YOUR COUCH blah, blah, blah...
Something that dignifies the struggle we all have to fight, just to appear normal to everyone else. Just to avoid making a spectacle of themselves, DIAPERS! What it takes for us to do the normal things everyone takes for granted. Again, just some thoughts...
Sorry for the typos I can’t find my glasses!

 

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Well, @Sprung87 glasses are something that a lot of us people need, just as diapers are! No one thinks twice about someone wearing glasses (or even a hearing aid or walking with a cane) so why should it be different if someone is wearing a diaper (or a pull-up) under their clothes? That video you have in mind will really drive home a point that no matter where you look there are people all around with bladder and bowel issues but one would never know it just from a casual glance at that person riding a train next to you or standing in front of you in the checkout line. And I can't think of a big box store or a supermarket that doesn't have some shelf space devoted to adult incontinence products. After all, those things aren't there just to decorate the store and look pretty! They are there because people need them and buy them and there is a market for them. And the way most of these products are made these days they virtually "disappear" under regular clothes. So no one is any the wiser! And once again the theme I'm seeing here is that diapers (along with pull-ups, Depends and the like) are enablers in that they allow us to get out there and act like everyone else.

 

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@Sprung87 Thats a good concept for a video. Just showing people doing normal everyday stuff and asking they question which one of these people are incontinent, can you tell? That would be really slick with some good video production and editing.

I might be the only one but sometimes when I am out, usually the day after having a wet night, I do look at the people around me as I go about the store or walk around and think, I wonder if any of them also wet the bed or are incontinent? Thing is I can never tell, just like they can't tell that I am a bedwetter. We are all just normal people doing normal things. Only difference is that some of us might have different kind of underwear on under our clothes or have waterproof protection on our beds. We are all still pretty normal though.

 

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Worse than people making light of incontinence products are those who find them sexually stimulating! A friend who knows about my issue thinks I should just find a partner into “golden showers”. But it’s not a part of my sexual interest and I don’t want it to be the focus of my partner exclusively, either!

 

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Hi Jaytee, it's getting to be lunchtime and I need to go out and do a couple errands but for the first time I just read your post right up above. I couldn't have said it better myself! If done right, that video ideas would really be awesome! Just people going about their daily routine except we have to take care of some details that others may not need to do!
And referring to the second paragraph, I, too, wonder who out there may be having those issues? But really it's so hard to tell! And do they also wonder if I'm one of the "Incontinents?" Dunno, but we are just plain old people out doing our regular things. Different underwear, though, but y'know, life goes on!