Education

Advocating for your Food Allergies and your Safety

Advocating in any social setting involves speaking up, asking for help and clarification, and being clear about your specific needs.

It is important to advocate for yourself and your own food allergies, as well as for the food allergy community. By advocating, you inform and educate others about the dangers of food allergies. Plus, you may help by teaching someone how to help a person having an allergic reaction. Advocating in any social setting involves speaking up, asking for help and clarification, and being clear about your specific needs.

By Elise Buellesbach, Emily O’Nan, Cadence Rosenblum, and Alexa Wyszkowski

Advocating for yourself and your own food allergies:

In social situations/gatherings/events

CR: In the past, I have avoided some social gatherings just because I was afraid I would find nothing to eat. Looking back, I realize you should never let allergies get in the way of having a good time. Allergies should never take away experiences that you are meant to have as a teen. If you are nervous about going out to eat with a group, I would suggest looking at the restaurant’s menu beforehand, calling ahead to find out what you can eat, being upfront with the server or the person in charge of the food. and just being honest with your friends. People appreciate honesty, so it’s okay to let your friends know that you are nervous and may need a little extra support in the situation.

AW: In social situations involving food, such as parties or other functions, I always either call or message the host, ahead of time, or speak with them upon arriving at the event, before the food is served. This allows me to read labels if the food is store bought, and be clear about the seriousness of my allergies. Now, if there is nothing safe for me to eat, the host understands why. If the function is being held at a restaurant, I will usually just call the restaurant in advance instead, so that way I already know exactly what I can and cannot eat. By disclosing my food allergies early on, I am putting my own safety first and bringing awareness to others who may be hosting the event and serving the food.

AW: When meeting new people and making friends I have found it to be really important to tell them about my food allergies upfront. By providing them with this information, they can learn more about food allergies, ask questions and I can also direct them to more resources to read such as FARE’s website. By making it clear that my food allergies are serious and important, my friends are able to be there to support me, give an epi-pen if needed, and speak up with me about food allergies.

In school

AW: In both high school and college I informed all of my teachers and professors about my food allergies. This led some professors to creating no food policies, or limiting the types of snacks brought into the classroom. I also sometimes had the opportunity to bring in an epi-pen trainer and show my teachers, professors and classmates how to use an epi-pen in case of an allergic reaction.

EO: Ever since I was in elementary school, I was taught to make sure that my teachers and classmates knew how severe my food allergies were. Creating this habit at such a young age has helped me to speak up for myself in more recent times, where the close monitoring of adults is much less. Throughout my younger years, I remember not being able to eat the “birthday treats” that my classmates would bring, and often my classmates and teachers would tell me ahead of time about a day they would bring snacks, and I would be prepared to bring my own. Now that I am an incoming senior in high school and class birthday parties are not occurring, I am much better about making my allergy known to those who may not understand. There are no more “peanut-free” tables in the cafeteria, so it is up to me to advocate for myself and politely ask my friends if they would wash their hands after eating. Many of my friends have been very understanding and even promise to not eat the foods I am allergic to around me.

CR: Something that helped me transition into high school was forming a relationship with the dining hall/cafeteria staff, and also the school nurse. On my first day, I introduced myself to those people, told them what I was allergic to, and gave the nurse epi-pens to have for me. I think this is an important step because it makes you feel secure to know that the adults around you are aware of your needs and can help you avoid your allergens. When you build that friendly relationship with the cafeteria staff, you can easily find out what you can and cannot eat that day, and sometimes if you are lucky they’ll even make you something special if you have to avoid the main dish!

In public

EO: While advocating for yourself in public settings may seem challenging, it is important to take care of yourself. You cannot control the actions of others, or the foods that others serve, but you have the power to control what you do. If you are at a restaurant and you notice the table is not as clean as it should be, you can make sure to either wipe the table down yourself, or ask the waiter to clean it more, as there could be crumbs of food that you may be allergic to. It’s easy to feel embarrassed about cleaning things in public or asking someone to do a little more, but your safety is more important.

Advocating for the food allergy community:

Advocating to the Government

EB: The FASTER Act (H.R. 2117), if passed, will add sesame as a 9th major allergen, and expand research into food allergy treatments and food allergies economic effects. While FARE has heavily promoted this bill, it is crucial to educate elected officials about the dangers of having food allergies. Promoting legislation can be as simple as sending an email or making a phone call to your representative. I was fortunate enough to take my advocacy a step further and meet, in person, with my elected official. In August of 2019, I met with Representative Anna Eshoo (D- CA-18) to discuss her potentially co-sponsoring the FASTER ACT. Representative Eshoo is the Chair of the subcommittee of health in the House of Representatives, making her support crucial to the passing of the FASTER Act. During our meeting, I explained the importance of the legislation and the difficulties of living with allergies. While she was unable to co-sponsor the bill due to her position as the Chair of the Committee, she voiced her support and understanding. Even before you are able to vote, you can be a voice in the government and advocate for safety and inclusion.

As a result of my meeting with Representative Eshoo, I joined her Student Advisory Board (SAB), giving me the opportunity to continue to promote better legislation regarding allergies. As a member of SAB, I have researched and written a piece of legislation that promotes better labeling practices in food manufacturing. I share my story with others on the board and the congresswoman, further making food allergies a topic of discussion. These discussions are critical to increasing awareness and visibility of the food allergy community.

Advocating at School

EB: I am a Senior in high school, and am working to shift the mindset to be about inclusion, not food. I am part of a club that meets once a month at lunch, and everyone brings their own food to eat. Yet, the club moderators feel that they have to provide food for everyone, at every meeting. I finally decided that no one was going to fix this problem because the leaders did not even know that this caused an issue of safety and inclusion for me. I emailed the leaders and set up a meeting to discuss my concerns. By speaking up I planted the idea that there are students with food allergies everywhere.

Unfortunately, they were unwilling to remove the treats from the meetings entirely, but they did modify the policy from bringing homemade and unlabeled goods, to only allowing prepackaged snacks such as popcorn. Having labels on food means that others with food allergies can truly know if the food is safe. Simply explaining your concerns in a face to face setting is impactful and important.

AW: When I was in high school I introduced food allergy awareness to the school’s community service club. Members of the club attended the local FARE Walk and also held a Teal Pumpkin Bash where students painted mini pumpkins teal and provided information about food allergies with them. The Teal Pumpkin Bash was really popular, so the club continued the event each year, even after I graduated from the school. In both high school and college, I was able to write articles in the school newspapers about food allergies. This is a great way to spread awareness and provide information on food allergies to the school community. In the Halloween editions, I wrote about the Teal Pumpkin Project and about how food allergies are portrayed in the Peter Rabbit movie.

Advocating in Life

EB: I went to an activist camp over the summer, and there was a night to share something that has to do with your activism. I chose to bring a teal pumpkin. I was sitting in a room with 40 other people who had never heard of the Teal Pumpkin Project. When I shared the importance and the simplicity of the teal pumpkin project, they were moved. Afterwards, people came up to me and said ‘I'm going to participate, I'm going to put out a teal pumpkin this year.’ Around Halloween, I got a text from one of my friends from camp with pictures of the teal pumpkins. Attached to the picture was a message stating “this is all because of you.” The Teal Pumpkin Project is a great example of simple and important activism that has a significant impact on every person who walks by that house on Halloween. By sharing your food allergy experience and story with people you meet, you are increasing the odds that they will have a teal pumpkin in the future. We even may start to see a domino effect, where you tell one person, they put a teal pumpkin, they tell one person, that person puts out a pumpkin, it starts to grow until it becomes an entire web of change and impact that you single-handedly helped create.

AW: In 2017, I started my own website about food allergies, and I write blog posts about my personal experiences and lessons learned. By writing about food allergies I am able to advocate for the food allergy community and educate others on what living life with food allergies is like.

CR: I believe self-advocating is an acknowledgment of your self-worth. For a long time, I struggled to advocate for my food allergies. In a large group, I felt like I was being a burden or slowing down the fun by having to ask. I thought people would judge me, thinking: “oh she’s the weird allergy kid”. As crazy as it sounds, those were the thoughts running through my head. Once I started to advocate in life is when I started to respect myself more. I realized that my body deserves to be taken care of. I think during this time, others started to respect me and my needs more, too. When I advocate, I feel safer, and I feel more confident and respected.

Advocating for your Food Allergies and your Safety

More Helpful Resources

FARE Resources

Top 9 Allergen Free Thanksgiving Cookbook

Back to School Posters

FARE Food Allergy Guide

Newark Workshop Videos Access

Holiday Recipe Book