I just read the great post on Kerri's six until me blog about wearing a gorgeous dress and trying to hide the pump. What a perfect, funny, poignant description of all the things that the designers of the pump have forgotten to think about. Don't get me wrong, I am forever grateful to the engineers and designers who have made the pump so reliable, accurate and freeing. I am living a better life because of the pump. So a huge thank-you first and a now a couple of questions. Why stop the design exercise there? Even if you can't change the shape or the hard material the pump is made of, why not at least figure out how to better attach the pump (I think I've broken about 5 of the clips since I got my pump) to us. What's that all about? And what about the ridiculous accessory choices (or lack thereof)? It's like the pump was designed for waistbands only and oops, we forgot that there are people out there who have diabetes AND wear dresses. And so we get straps made out of nylon and velcro to attach the pump to our leg like some kind of weird garter, as if we're going on a camping trip after we dance the night away. At it's core, design is about problem solving and making people's lives better. And these small things actually really matter a lot. Because it's about quality of life and not feeling burdened (or medical) where you don't have to. It's about getting to enjoy dressing up without being faced with an engineering dilemma. Please! Diabetes is tough enough so let's figure out the easy stuff. After all, they figured out how to make a pump, so this shouldn't be too hard. You think?
PS. I loved Lyrehca's bike short call out. Who knew? Great call!
Thanks for the shout out! I've never ordered any pump accessories on wearing the pump. A pair of bike shorts usually does the trick nicely.
Posted by: Lyrehca | June 26, 2006 at 04:51 AM