Many individuals living with dietary restrictions don’t want to call attention to themselves. For me this was the hardest part of our challenge.

My 5 day experience commenced with donning my Cornell Dining issued fluorescent yellow 5 Day Challenge t-shirt identifying me as a member of the Gluten Free-Dairy Free Team. We were instructed to wear these shirts on Monday and Friday. It took a great deal to psych myself up and into the shirt. I am a shy individual and do not like calling attention to myself and was in agony as I went about my day dressed like a traffic safety device. I found myself repeatedly apologizing for blinding people with my attire. And then I made a really interesting connection as I apologized for having a staff member double check some ingredients for me–an article I read in preparation for the week suddenly resonated so deeply with me that I felt it may have been intentionally planned by the Challenge organizers.

In the article the “Ten Things Children with Food Allergies Want You to Know (©2011 Gina Clowes)” number 1 is “I would like to look, act and eat like everyone else.” While quite content with eating a gluten free-dairy free diet I was very uncomfortable being singled out or feeling as though personal information was being broadcast to the public. I in no way mean to trivialize something as serious as dietary restrictions by comparing it to a briefly endured unfortunate fashion moment but the situation did clarify for me what can be difficult for many in food service to fully appreciate. People with special dietary needs aren’t necessarily comfortable with the perception of being “special.” They may not want to bring attention to themselves or have their friends know about their dietary restrictions. They just want to be included—to look, act and eat like everyone else. There are some that can embrace their inner rock star and can sport their fluorescent yellow shirts as though they were in the fashion vanguard– hot off the Paris Fashion Week runways, capable of demanding special accommodations of the most extreme kind without batting an eyelash—but many with dietary restrictions just want to be normal, buy their clothes off the rack, if you will, and blend in.

Eating the food or living without isn’t necessarily the most difficult part of the challenge—coming to terms with being seen as special, having to ask for accommodations, setting one’s self outside the norm—that can be infinitely more challenging.

I understand that now and am grateful for the lesson.