Diabetes Type Exclusion

When I was a newly diagnosed person with type 1 diabetes, and maybe even not so new, I remember going to diabetes events hoping to learn more about my diabetes but also to meet others like me. However, I often felt that these events were too general, too vague for an insulin user like me, and the questions asked by the audience implied that most of them were people with type 2 diabetes, so I didn’t relate to or connect with these events and I stopped going. 

I have no idea if my assumption was correct but this assumption made me feel isolated, excluded, like I didn’t fit in or belong. I believed that the talks and discussion were type 2 diabetes dominated. So, I stopped going to those events, that is until they changed /created events where I could find my tribe.

Photo Credit: “Excluded” by malias is licensed under CC BY 2.0.jpg

Photo Credit: “Excluded” by malias is licensed under CC BY 2.0.jpg

A lot has changed since those days and especially since we are not doing face-to-face meetings. The online space is where people with type 1 diabetes have found our tribe and it’s where we have raised our voices and have dominated the diabetes conversation. So much so, we are now asking where are people with type 2 diabetes?

This question was asked yet again by a fellow champion of inclusion in the diabetes support space, Bastian Hauck at the #dedoc° voices network event. However, as we went around the room where most people introduced themselves as a type of diabetes rather than a person with diabetes and a discussion that followed was also very type focused, I began to think about how the two people with type 2 diabetes in the virtual room might be feeling some of those feelings I felt back when the ratio was reversed. And this was supposedly the ‘safe space’. 

I also felt a certain awkwardness in the virtual room at one point at the lack of awareness of the other types of diabetes that are insulin dependent, some also autoimmune. 

It was a revolutionary thought for me: we are doing what we felt was done to us! 

Many of us active in the online space are aware that it’s dominated by people with type 1 diabetes but I don’t think we are aware of how this might make others feel.   

In addition to the #dedoc° voices events, I also had the privilege to attend the annual Abbott dXVirtual diabetes exchange event this past weekend (disclosure below), where the marvelous Patricia Santos, @vivetudiabetespsr, from Spain co-presented with Nick Cahm ‘Our perspective on access’

Patricia asked:

When you think about how many people live with diabetes, imagine how much we could do as a community if we were united? And what are we going to do as a community to bridge that divide?



What can we do?

Some of us can be leaders and make sure that people with type 2 diabetes have a seat at the table, many diabetes advocates much wiser than me have written about wider representation many times before (eg Diabetogenic, Type 2 Musings - https://www.ascensia.com/press/having-a-seat-at-the-table/, and lots, lots more advocates. 


Some are doing all they can to elevate the voices of people with type 2 and other types of diabetes. 

What else can we do to create a more inclusive space for all people with diabetes while still having our own spaces?

Could we have conversations or events where the type ‘label’ is dropped? Could we learn more about the other types of diabetes to learn more about what we have in common?

Maybe we could raise awareness about how we use the space might make others feel like they don’t belong?

Type 2 Diabetes Voices

I want to take this opportunity to highlight some of the Type 2 Voices the in the space

Disclosure: I attended Abbott’s Diabetes Exchange dX virtual event but did not receive any payment or fees from Abbott for doing so. All opinions and thoughts about this event are my own

My attendance at ATTD2021 was sponsored through the #dedoc° voices program which builds a network of like-minded peers who will engage, collaborate and advocate for a strong patent voice.