Today's Guest:
me, Nina Modak :D
WEBSITE: right here, you're in the right place ;)
TWITTER: @eatallergysafe
Today’s podcast episode I mixed up a little. I decided, at the last minute, to do a Facebook live episode. I wanted to talk about how to tell other people about your allergies. I walk you through my 5 step method to stop being embarrassed and keep yourself or your allergic child safe.
What You'll Learn:
All about my 5 Step Method:
Step 1: Be Bold!
Feeling like you are inconveniencing another person can make us feel embarrassed. Asking another person, especially if you don’t know them very well to take steps outside of their usual routine in order to cater for you can make us feel nervous. But when it comes to your allergy, you need to set this aside and be bold, even if you don’t feel it.
You are your own allergy advocate. Be bold, step outside of your usual comfort zone and don’t think about what other people might think about you.
I remind myself that that no person’s feelings are as important as your life.
Step 2: Be Calm, Be Factual, Be Honest
Being calm is a lot easier said than done. Believe me, I know, I’ve been there! But even though it is a challenge to keep calm when someone is spouting nonsense about what they think they know about allergies, it is still essential. Why is it essential? Because when you are emotional at another person, they will become resistant to being open to understanding your position.
Think about it like this, if someone is flapping their arms in your face and getting more and more erratic, what do you want to do? You want to get away from them. You aren’t willing to listen. Through their erratic and emotional behaviour they elicited a resistance in you.
My goal when explaining about my allergy is to get other people to listen and follow my instructions to the letter so that my life is not put at risk. In order to give myself the best chance of success, I don’t want to alienate people before I’ve even started explaining.
When I do explain, I am factual and honest. There is no point playing it down, in the worst case it could be a life and death matter, so I need make others aware of this fact so that they take it seriously.
People need to understand WHY they need to take precautions. When I explain it calmly, factually and honestly people usually listen to my “why” more carefully and will take the appropriate precautions.
Step 3: Show People How Easy It Is
Once I have given people the facts, I need to lead by example. I need to continue to be vigilant in asking questions and checking ingredients, but I also show them that I don’t worry about missing out. I show them that maybe I can’t have one food, but I can have an alternative.
One of the best things about allergies is that you know what makes you sick. That means you know what to avoid! That’s what makes it easy to manage!
Step 4: Be Approachable
Like you may have felt a bit embarrassed to tell others about your allergy, carers/friends/family/etc may feel embarrassed to keep asking about what might or might not be safe.
I make sure that those people I’m trying to educate know that they can ask me as many times as they need to about what may or may not be safe. After all they may be terrified about sending me into hospital.
