Don’t let those ‘awareness’ days, weeks and months pass you by

Are you aware that November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month? No? Well, surely you know it’s also Pancreatic Cancer Month? Presumably you are at least aware it’s National Fraud Awareness Month?

Depending on when you’re reading this, it could be Orangutan Awareness Week. And if you’re reading this on 7 November, it’s also National Stress Awareness Day (“Stress – don’t let it get to you!” is its slogan).

So, if you care about orangutans (or if, indeed, you are an orangutan) and have been defrauded recently, don’t worry. Be happy: today is your day.

Do a Google search and hundreds of days, weeks and months pop up, clamouring for your care, attention or cash. Where does all this “awareness” get us?

Can the various other cancer awareness campaigns do anything to challenge the fundraising pinkfest of Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Ironing board cover or nail file, anyone? It’s in October, just in case you missed it.

The cynic in me wonders what the evidence of impact is for many of them; whether indeed some of the column inches might be counter-productive. One press release supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month reveals the “alarming” news that women don’t realise the risk of breast cancer increases with age while another introduces us to “sultry and seductive 18-year-old Peaches Geldof”, one of the “faces” of the campaign.

What good can a day, a week, a month – or indeed a year, this being the European Year of Equal Opportunities – provide?

Well, publicity for a less sexy cause undoubtedly, or a way to connect people to something beyond rampant consumerism. Holocaust Memorial Day, for example, – 25 January, anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz/ Birkenau – urges us to think about the barely thinkable: the Holocaust, its implications and why some deny its reality.

Black History Month (October) provides a powerful corrective to official history, always written by the winner or oppressor.

Many “weeks” try to ensure that families affected by little-known syndromes can find and support each other – a good thing.

Some try to alter behaviour: our diet or whether we visit the doctor to have that prostate probed. “Understanding” autism may be impossible, but greater awareness of its impact on people with the condition might make others behave differently towards them and bullying less socially acceptable.

And with the International Day of Disabled People almost upon us (3 December), what about “awareness” of the law?

Employers are aware these days of the DDA, but does that mean they’ll do anything positive as a result? Some will think: better not employ “them” in the first place.

However, there is evidence that where people know about their rights they are more confident to negotiate reasonable adjustments in the workplace.

With hundreds of breast cancer survivors facing discrimination at work every year, that’s well worth being aware of.