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How do you think I feel, when medical staff refuse to use the word diaper. I often think it's humiliating to call my diapers a briefs, despite me insisting it's a diaper. It feels into the stigma that we're tying to fight against. To me a diaper is a a diaper regardless if it's a baby, child, teen, adult or even an elderly person is wearing. Calling it sometime else makes it worse for those who are kept in them. It reinforces stereotypes and notions about those who wear diapers. The problem is that too many people in society are stuck on the old notions of what diapers means. Many think that only babies wear diapers when in reality anyone who has an incontinence medical condition wears diapers. For me, I am not ashamed of wearing diapers. I know they are diapers and in my mind, diapers are normal for those who are Incontinent. Being in diapers, I know I have not lost my adulthood. Diapers allows me to have a normal life without fear or shame.

I am so frustrated by medical practitioners who refuse to use the word "Diaper," claiming that it is humiliating for their patients. As Slomo indicated, it feeds the continuing stigma. If we cannot educate the doctors, how will we educate the general public? In many rehab and assisted living facilities the staff are prohibited from using the word "diaper." Too many people still feel that being identified with wearing a "diaper" means that they have lost their adulthood or maturity and somehow have reverted to being infantile. --John