BAD TEACHERS
I posted a tweet to my Insta stories by @msallisonbailey who asked the question “What is your Bad Teacher Story?” in regards to having diabetes, and was overwhelmed by a mass of outpouring, some of them quite shocking stories. There were so many I felt it was necessary to share our stories in this comic.
I think it’s important to share our stories, because a lot of the time we think we are alone in a situation of diabetes discrimination, not realising how prevalent it is.
I think this is hugely connected to diabetes stigma. If kids are learning from each other and teachers about what diabetes is, then misinformation is starting from a young age, and we do need to look at ways to combat this.
We need people to be aware and be respectful of our needs – for eg. don’t touch our medical devices, alarms are there for a purpose, we need to eat food to treat hypos and yes our pumps look like mobile phones, but they aren’t.
It also made me think of the following things:
- We need to de-stigmatize diabetes through education.
- Figure out support systems that work better for us.
- Create tools and dialogue that we can use to better protect our rights when faced with diabetes discrimination.
- Ensure someone can advocate on our behalf, especially in a hypo situation where it can be hard for us to do that ourselves.
- A lot of the resources made for schools are a bit boring, (no graphics)
- I know there are some resources available, but maybe it’s a question of are they working, and if not, why?
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Just a quick note, for the purposes of anonymity and me getting this comic out quickly, the characters drawn may not be accurate likenesses. Thank you to all who have shared their stories with me to help create this comic! 
This website is a personal account of Type 1 Diabetes and should in no way be taken as medical advice. Please consult your medical team if you have any questions regarding your own diabetes management.
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This Post Has 4 Comments
I work as a teacher and had a boss, who talked to his colleges about the persons with a handycapped ID he had in this team – as they were talking about the rights and needs these persons have which need to be considered. He told me that he forgot to mention me in his statement, as I have only this “luxury disability” of being diabetic… I then wrote a paper informing him about all the distress and efforts that are necessary, to keep my diabetic life stable and my work power on point…. It was quite a long list of to do’s and care abouts, and watch this.. and be aware of.. and remember to… and avoid….
Never would have thought diabetes could be a “luxury disability”… It might be invisible at first and superficial sight… But we all know better!
I had a college Literature class that required attendance. You dropped a letter grade for each day missed. I had an overnight hypo and missed that class once because I didn’t wake up (this was in MDI R&NPH days so lots of overnight lows.) I gladly took the B, but why should my grade drop 10 points because I nearly died?
I dropped a class in college specifically because of diabetes. It was my first semester on a pump, and I had to calibrate my sensor in class to keep it from going off repeatedly. My meter made a tiny beeping sound I couldn’t turn off that went off when I put in the test strip, did the test, when the result popped up, and when I pulled out the used strip. The first time it beeped, the professor stopped the lesson and stared at me (even though I’d disclosed that I was diabetic!) and watched me in silence in front of the whole class while I finished the test. Naturally, the calibration didn’t work, and I had to test again, so I tried doing it in my lap to muffle the sound. Another student was answering a question at that point, and she stopped talking to stare at me while I did that test also! Luckily it wasn’t a required course, so I left my syllabus on my desk at the end of class and dropped it from my schedule immediately.
While in high school, I was in the hallway between classes. A hall monitor, an adult woman, came up behind me and grabbed my insulin pump off my pants. She said “You can’t have MP3s in school so I’m taking this.” and pulled it away, pulling my infusion set out and causing me to scream. After I screamed she dropped my pump and caused it to crack down where the battery is held. Not even an apology, all she then said was “Get to class.” as I sat on the ground crying from the pain and possibly broken pump. Luckily my pump still worked and we were in warranty but it doesn’t make it okay what she did.