By Benazir Radmanesh, Silver Linings volunteer
Last week, February 1 to 7, was Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW), an informative and stirring, full week of events focused on community engagement and raising awareness of the fact that eating disorders can’t afford to wait.
The week began with iconic Calgary landmarks including the Calgary Tower, the Glenbow Museum, the Reconciliation Bridge and Olympic Plaza being lit up in vivid purple--the awareness colour for eating disorders--to shine a light on this urgent mental health issue. Plus, the official proclamation and launch of EDAW at Calgary City Hall by MLA Nicholas Milliken, Councillor Sean Chu, Silver Linings and the Eating Disorder Support Network of Alberta (EDSNA).
This year’s EDAW theme was “Eating Disorders Can’t Afford To Wait,” and as someone who is in recovery from an eating disorder, I could not agree more. When I was still in the grip of my eating disorder, each day involved being robbed of my health, my relationships, my dreams--my life. Today, thousands of Albertans continue to be robbed of their lives by their eating disorder struggles. Compounding this, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses, including depression. And yet, they remain misunderstood and stigmatized.
I spent years trying to access medical care for my illness and facing confusion from doctors, friends and family members. Also, I constantly felt ashamed of having an eating disorder. From my perspective, it is therefore incredibly refreshing and powerful to experience a public/transparent week of talking, accurately, about these mental illnesses.
The lighting up of landmarks mentioned earlier feels to me like an invitation to bring light to the deadly darkness of eating disorders. Also, vivid purple represents passion, inspiration and calmness, qualities that are critical for eating disorder recovery and for the continued process of awareness-raising and improving access and availability of services.
EDAW is a time to speak up, remove the veils of secrecy and shame, and share stories of strength, hope and recovery. This is why the week is so incredibly important. My hope is that the momentum of EDAW spills over to the rest of the year until eating disorder recovery becomes the norm and not the exception.
