Introduction

Mark McIntosh (Host): Next up, the Impact Award goes to Larry Hausner. Larry has been with the American Diabetes Association since October 2007, bringing more than 20 years of extensive management experience in nonprofits, including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Coupled with a strong understanding of mission-driven organizations, Hausner currently serves as Vice Chairperson of the National Health Council, co-chair of the Centers for Public Health Roundtable, and a member of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease Strategic Planning Strategy Group.

Larry Hausner is the 2010 recipient of the Invisible Disabilities Association Impact Honors Award. Larry has been chosen based upon his leadership as CEO of the American Diabetes Association and by leading the charge in helping people living daily with diabetes through local and national education, research, and support. Ladies and gentlemen, Larry Hausner.

Larry Hausner’s Acceptance Speech

Good evening, everybody. On behalf of the American Diabetes Association, the 24 million people who have diabetes—of which 25% don’t even know it—and the 57 million who have prediabetes or are at risk for diabetes, as well as the wonderful volunteers and staff that we have all around the country, including the group here from Denver today: thank you.

I humbly accept this award, and I am very proud to be able to receive this along with the other award winners here tonight.

Advocacy and Leadership

Wayne, I commend you, your wife [Sherri], and the people on your board for what you do. Because what you do is so vital. Diabetes is an invisible disease, and while there are lots of diseases that are invisible, that invisibility presents unique challenges.

The Invisible Reality of Chronic Illness

Just because a disease is invisible doesn’t mean it’s easy. When people say, “Oh, you look fine,” in their minds they think, “So you are fine. Get up, go do it. Why aren’t you?” But that is simply not the case.

Acknowledgments and Support

Those of us who have been there, seen this, and lived with this—or lived with other people who have different chronic, invisible diseases—know that what you and your group do is so important. So I thank you.