Understanding and awareness of type 1 diabetes
I feel that people back in the 1970s and today still don’t fully understand type 1 diabetes.
I never used to tell people I had diabetes, as I was ashamed of it. When I went out with my now husband I made my dad tell him that I had diabetes, I thought he’d give up on me – but I’m still with him 43 years later!
I tried not to let my diabetes hold me back in my professional life, but it wasn’t always easy. The only person I told about my condition in my first job was my boss. By the time I was feeling more open about discussing my diabetes with employers, I still found very few people I worked with understood it, or how to treat something like a hypo if it happened to me at work.
I’ve faced some prejudice in interviews because of my diabetes, and in meetings where people didn’t understand the impact of my condition on things like mealtimes.