By Emily
Hi everyone! My name is Emily, and I run the blog nallergy. I am allergic to tree nuts and peanuts, and I am also on FARE’s Teen Advisory Group. I am so excited to be writing a blog post for Food Allergy Youth, and I hope you enjoy!
I started advocating in January of 2020. I thought that it would just be something fun to do, but honestly, I didn’t even think that I would enjoy advocating. However, now I can say that it was one of the best decisions of my life.
It is so important to advocate for what you believe in. If no one advocated for anything, our world would stay the exact same. Or, the world would get even worse. We need people who will advocate for change. The world needs change, and we can’t get that change unless someone stands up for it.
As far as allergies go, we have come a long way in advocating for them. Twenty years ago, many people probably had no idea what an Epi-pen was, or that food allergies are life or death. Just in these past twenty years, we have come out with several food allergy treatments, support groups, food allergy friendly foods and companies, and so much more.
However, we need to understand that there is more work to do. Advocating is how we get our voices across; and we need it now more than ever.
I feel like a common myth about advocating is that it takes some big, time consuming action to make even the tiniest of differences. In reality, it doesn’t at all. Just to give you some perspective on this, I am literally writing this article from my couch, and I have been doing all of my advocating from home during the pandemic.
A great way of advocating is through the internet. You could start a blog, a podcast, or a social media for food allergies. If this seems too big or time consuming, you could even just have a conversation with a friend about how to use an Epi-pen or why food allergies are serious.
Advocating is so important for all of us. Whether your advocating is big or small, just know that you are making a huge difference in the world around you.