Diabetes and stigma – Exploring this thorny issue
In the first of a two-part feature we look at the question of stigma in diabetes, including interviews with people living with diabetes and healthcare professionals.
If you are living with diabetes, you may very well have experienced ignorant, condescending or simply rude comments, not only from the public and even family members, but also possibly professionals who we would hope know better. Stigma can manifest itself in many ways, so let’s introduce our guests and the different perspectives they bring to the conversation.
We will hear from four people to explore this thorny issue, from different perspectives including an NHS diabetes consultant, who also trains colleagues in working with people with diabetes; a chartered health psychologist specialising on the impact of the condition; and two people living with diabetes – one is a colleague from DRWF, and the other is a high-profile entertainer who has only recently started talking about their diabetes publicly.
Podcast host Claire Levy said: “I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes whilst working at the charity in 2017. I experienced feelings that I should have taken better care of myself and should have been able to do more to avoid it. I did go on to lose a considerable amount of weight and felt the information I had really helped.”
In this feature we will explore what stigma is and how it manifests itself. In part two, we will look at practical ways to deal with stigma, including hints and tips from our professionals.
People living with diabetes can experience malicious and ignorant behaviour, both knowingly and not from people with limited understanding of the condition
Dr Mayank Patel
Consultant in Diabetes at University Hospital Southampton and member of the DRWF Editorial Advisory Board
“I’m sure there are various definitions of what diabetes stigma means to different people. But to me, I think chiefly it’s when I hear the word stigma and diabetes together, I think about individuals, perhaps just because they have something, a health condition, not lots of other people may have necessarily.
“There are certain behaviours by those around them that make the person feel openly different and uncomfortable, and that can obviously have some negative impact, as I’m sure we will discuss later.”
Professor Katharine Barnard-Kelly
Co-author of the DRWF leaflets on Sexual health and diabetes for men and women
“I think stigma in diabetes is a hugely important issue to look at because it’s pervasive and invisible, but can be deeply damaging and very, very upsetting. And it can also negatively impact people’s ability to manage their diabetes in the way that they would like to. So I think it’s hugely important.”
Darren Tipper
DRWF digital marketing manager
“I see diabetes stigma online every day. People think they know about diabetes. That is one of the problems. There are lots of medical conditions people know they do not know about, but people think they know about diabetes. They are just passing on common misinformation that is everywhere. It is just so rife.”
Dave Benson Phillips
Children’s entertainer best known for Playdays, Fun Song Factory and, of course, the gunge game show Get Your Own Back
“I have been living with type 2 diabetes for the past five years, but the stigma that I suffer from is largely self-imposed, and I think that’s something that I’ve got from a lot of people with diabetes when talking to them about the day that they find out that they are diagnosed with the condition, and it is a very tough thing. So that’s the way that my stigma works on me. It just hurt. That was all.”
Living with Diabetes
Listen to the interviews in full as part of the DRWF Living with Diabetes podcast series
This latest edition of our podcast Living with Diabetes was supported by Abbott.
Living with Diabetes is a Blue Aurora media production for DRWF. Copyright 2024 Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation. All rights reserved.
This article was produced as part of the DRWF Living with Diabetes podcast series and appeared in the Autumn 2024 edition of Diabetes Wellness News. To subscribe visit here
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