Glykouli.gr

In 2007 I was diagnosed with diabetes. Just like before when I had tried to boost visibility for the lesbian community, I did exactly the same to increase visibility for the diabetic community and diabetes. In 2010 I created glykouli.gr, the biggest portal in Greece for people with diabetes, and organized various events, first to make us happy and second to help us “come out of the closet”.

The state of introversion I discovered within an entire community representing over 10% of the population and encompassing over half a billion people worldwide was completely frustrating. It was like a stagnant lake with flies hovering above, I said!

They were hiding their Diabetes. On a personal level, several of my friends have disclosed to me that they have diabetes. Even though they were proclaiming their gay identity, they were diligently hiding their disease. So did most straight people.

While you don’t have to conceal it from your parents, as in the case of homosexuality, parents often make you feel guilty about your diabetes and encourage you to keep it a secret from neighbors, partners, relatives, colleagues, etc.

So the first campaign with the help of Bayer was “Speak Openly About Your Diabetes”.
If you lack visibility you can’t claim your rights!

I orchestrated a bombardment of events, photo shoots, videos, radio spots, ads on bus stops and buses, a social media campaign, a broadcast on Mindradio, as well as the Sweet Agenda (a free agenda, distributed in diabetology centres and pharmacies). All that aimed to showcase that we exist among you and demand respect, help and recognition of the challenges of living with this enduring disease which typically reduces life expectancy by an average of 10 years for individuals with diabetes. Moreover, all of this was presented with a modern, fresh, and fashionable aesthetic and language.

Just as I had done with Cybedrykes, taking a straight space and flooding it with lesbians, I did the same for the diabetic community. I organized events in mainstream venues like the Greek Film Archive, the Cervantes Institute, Ianos, the Parliament Foundation during the exhibition “feminism from the post-communist era to today” and I was happy to bring the diabetic community in contact with the feminist movement.

At the same time in 2007, when I was diagnosed with LADA Diabetes, I started the Outview Film Festival and over the years I gradually incorporated LGBTQI+ and disability themes (if you have Type 1 Diabetes or LADA, you are assigned a 50% disability rating).

So I brought together any courageous people from the conservative disability community with the LGBTQI+ movement.

I should add that I always made sure to provide catering from shops or individuals who respect the needs of people with diabetes. In the initial events the catering was created in-house, either homemade or from sofeto.gr. I got several companies to count the community as buying power!

Here you can listen to some of the shows.
https://www.mixcloud.com/glykouli-gr/

Here you can listen to the spots we prepared for the “Speak openly about your Diabetes” campaign. Only one of these spots was approved by the sponsors and it was played on Rhythm FM, Easy FM and Mindradio.

Below you can see the Sweet Agendas and the videos.

glykouli.gr is now transferred to brainfoodmedia.gr/

CAMPAIGN RADIO SPOTS:

Sweet Agenda

See the videos :