Stop the Stigma!

Please!

In light of November being Diabetes Awareness Month, I'd like to take this chance to urge everyone to please stop the stigma that surrounds type one diabetes.  As diabetics, we all know what being diabetic entails and the differences between type one and type two diabetes; however, this isn't common knowledge to everyone. Before I explain the stigma that I mentioned earlier, here is a brief overview of the two type of diabetes. I hope this will help people understand why the stigma is such a big deal to those of us with type one diabetes.

Type one and type two are the most common types of diabetes. Type one diabetes (the type that this blog is about) is also called juvenile diabetes since it is most commonly diagnosed at a young age. For example, I was diagnosed at the age of twelve. Type one diabetes is an auto immune disease which means that the immune system attacked cells in the pancreas, causing it to stop producing insulin, the hormone necessary to regulate the body's blood sugar. Scientists have yet to discover why the immune system is attacking the pancreas, which is the reason that there is no cure yet. Since there is no cure, there are only ways to treat type one diabetes such as insulin injections or through an insulin pump.

As for type two diabetes, it is quite different than type one diabetes. Type two is more common in the older adults; however, with the increase in childhood obesity, it is starting to appear in juveniles as well. Unlike type one diabetes, the pancreas of a type two diabetic is still able to produce insulin, but due to their high body fat content, their bodies cannot absorb the insulin that it needs. In many cases, type two diabetes can be cured through diet and exercise to lose the weight which will hopefully allow the body to start absorbing the insulin again. In slightly more severe cases, a type two diabetic might be put on an oral medication, or even insulin injections at its most severe level.

Now that we have established the differences between type one and type two diabetes, the stigma will make more sense. Many people who are uneducated about diabetes and the two types often make assumptions about what being a diabetic means. It is because of this that the stigma exists. People assume that anyone with diabetes, either type one or type two, is diabetic because they're overweight. It doesn't matter what the size of the person is, but people assume that if someone is diabetic, it is because they're overweight or because they ate too much sugar at one point in their life. This is incredibly insensitive to type one diabetics. We had no control over getting diabetes and implying that we did is actually quite offensive. 

Along those same lines, jokes about diabetes are also highly offensive. I can't count the amount of times I've heard someone say that they'd get diabetes if they ate one more cookie, or that there's so much sugar in something that they'll get diabetes from eating it. I understand that the people making these jokes often don't actually know what diabetes is, but they need to realize how rude these jokes are and how incredibly offensive they are to diabetics. These jokes are filled with misconceptions diabetes, specifically type one diabetes. All they do is feed the stigma that is around surrounding those of us with type one diabetes. 

This may not seem like a big deal to non-diabetics, but to those of us who have to live with the daily blood sugar tests, finger pricks, injections, high and low blood sugars, and long term effect of diabetes like possible organ failures or the loss of feelings in limbs due to nerve damage, we take this unfortunate stigma very seriously. I urge everyone to consider how much their words can offend someone, even if they aren't meant to do so, and please STOP THE STIGMA that type one diabetics are plagued with. Our disease is already challenging enough, please don't challenge our patients as well. :)