Living Life in the Punchline
Words by Grace Maguire | She/Her
The conversation around diabetes needs to change. Miseducation through media discourse has moulded diabetes into the punchline of a sick joke, at the expense of those living through this invisible illness. You know what I’m talking about: the “diabetes on a plate” in The Great British Bake Off, and the “one-word: diabeetus” memes.
These punchlines have transformed people’s perception of an unpreventable condition. I’ve heard people joke too many times about getting diabetes as they help themselves to a second slice of cake, or laugh at the idea of being “so obese” that they could get it. The truth is, there are several different types of diabetes—none of which are caused by sugar intake and none of which are a laughing matter.
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was eight years-old. At the time, I didn’t know a lot about the condition—only that I needed to prick my finger and inject insulin before I ate so I wouldn’t get sick. My parents worked hard to let me continue living as a child, so I still had playdates and went to birthday parties.
Here, due to the miseducation around what diabetes actually entails, I was denied some foods by other parents and scorned for wanting the same as everyone else. I was made to feel like a problem, different, and a ticking-time-bomb despite doing all my blood tests and injections myself.
I now know that type 1 diabetes is a chronic autoimmune condition in which the pancreas stops secreting insulin. It is in no way caused by the eating habits of its sufferers. Because insulin is a hormone that allows glucose from the bloodstream into the liver, fat, and muscles, it’s needed to survive.
Type 1 diabetics must check their blood glucose level (BGL) and inject insulin multiple times a day and night to keep their blood glucose
levels steady, within a good range, in order to avoid life-threatening complications.
Type 1 diabetes is sometimes referred to as ‘juvenile diabetes’ or ‘adolescent-onset diabetes’, because more often than not, those diagnosed with it are children. These children did nothing wrong to get a lifelong condition, yet are treated as if they should have known better.
This is something I have grown to accept, yet it still affects me—as an adult I have come across more and more people telling me it could’ve been avoided, that it’s my own fault.
Recently, I was at a friend’s house with a few people I hadn’t met before. They didn’t know I have diabetes—it’s invisible. Someone pulled out a chocolate bar and joked that it was their dinner; instantly, another girl piped up and exclaimed “you’ll get diabetes eating like that! Your organs will rot, and you’ll die!”
Those in the room that knew I have diabetes didn’t say anything (what do you say when someone excitedly says a friend will rot and die?). She was certain that eating chocolate for dinner would lead to diabetes, the same way it is often portrayed in the media.
This is not true; this is a stigma. No form of diabetes only applies to those that are overweight. It is possible for anyone to be diagnosed with diabetes, even an Olympic athlete. In fact, Sir Steve Redgrave, who has 5 Olympic gold medals, 9 World Championship golds, and 3 Commonwealth golds for rowing has type 2 diabetes.
Speaking as she did, the girl explaining that diabetes will make your vital organs rot sounded pretty convincing. If I didn’t have diabetes myself I might have even believed it. Diabetics can eat all foods—we just need to adjust our medication to cater for the amount of carbs we eat or drink. Eating a chocolate bar for dinner isn’t particularly healthy, but doing so won’t give you diabetes.
Rather than referring to diabetes as having chocolate for dinner or the takeaways you had last week, we need to adjust our thinking to recognise that diabetes is a chronic autoimmune disorder no-one would choose to have.
It results in being kept up all night by hard to manage blood glucose levels; feeling guilty when people question what you should be eating and embarrassed when they make a scene about it. It is constant needles and tubing, calculating the number of carbs in everything you eat, or drink and it is physically and mentally demanding. It is the risk of your blood turning acidic, getting neuropathy, or losing your eyesight.
Don’t be afraid to break down the stigma surrounding diabetes. The next time you hear a “diabeetus” joke, consider educating the ‘comedian’, or suggest they read this article.