By Gary Gross, J.D., Managing Director for Legal Advocacy, American Diabetes Association
November is American Diabetes Month and the American Diabetes Association is rallying the public to take actions against the disease through this year's theme, I Raise My Hand to Stop Diabetes®.The Association will pay tribute to those who have raised their hand and work to Stop Diabetes every day. People, places and programs that are working hard to change the future of diabetes will be highlighted. At the same time, Americans will be rallied to join these champions in the Stop Diabetes movement by pledging to become involved.
There are nearly 26 million children and adults living with diabetes in the U.S. People who are living with diabetes can face discrimination at work, school and elsewhere in their lives. The health and academic success of students with diabetes is jeopardized when they are denied access to the insulin that is their lifeblood, or other critically needed care, during the school day and extracurricular activities because of a shortage of trained school personnel.
Employers deny jobs to people with diabetes because of misconceptions about the impact of the condition on the ability to safely and effectively perform the job. People with diabetes who are denied proper medical care in correctional facilities have a greatly increased risk for long-term complications of diabetes such as amputation, blindness, heart attack, stroke and kidney failure. And police, who aren't trained to recognize a diabetes emergency, often mistake it for drunkenness or drug use and respond with excessive force rather than emergency medical care.
Through its Legal Advocacy Program , the Association is committed to ending this type of unfair treatment against children and adults with diabetes. We rely on a four-step approach: educate about diabetes, negotiate resolutions of problems, litigate if necessary and, when other avenues fail, legislate new laws to protect people with diabetes.
The Association's Safe at School® Campaign is devoted to making sure all children with diabetes have the care they need at school to be medically safe and the same educational opportunities as their classmates. Keeping a child with diabetes safe at school requires a collaborative effort among parents, doctors and other diabetes health care professionals, school nurses, teachers and administrators. Accordingly, the Association has developed resources needed by parents and all members of the school care team.
Through the Campaign, thousands of families and schools have worked together to develop plans for safe care at school. In many states, the Campaign has helped develop statewide policies specific to diabetes care at school. Recent successful legislative efforts include the passage of state laws in Florida and Illinois that prohibit segregation based on diabetes, allow students who are able to do so to self-manage their disease and ensure school personnel are permitted to provide the care students with diabetes need to succeed.
Yet in other states, major barriers still exist. In California, the Association brought a federal class action lawsuit to ensure access to insulin at school. The resulting settlement agreement with the California Department of Education allows school personnel to volunteer to be trained to help a child in need of insulin, rather than relying solely on school nurses. This is an essential safeguard, given that there is only one school nurse for every 2,200 students in the state. We are currently defending a challenge to that settlement in the California Supreme Court, and the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, along with a host of disability rights organizations, key medical groups and others, have filed friend of the court briefs supporting us.
Similarly, the Association has worked hard to ensure fair treatment in many other areas of life for people with diabetes, including employment. We have worked to end blanket bans that in essence said no one with diabetes need apply and replaced them with reasonable individual assessments, informed by the science and medicine of diabetes management today. And we have helped employers understand the simple accommodations that are sometimes needed for successful employment.
Individuals who believe they have been discriminated against because of diabetes can learn about their rights by reviewing our extensive online informational resources , or they may call 1-800-DIABETES ( 1-800-342-2382 ). A representative from the Association's Center for Information and Community Support will send a packet of information and a form to request help from one of our legal advocates. Our advocates, lawyers who specialize in diabetes discrimination issues, can help individuals understand their legal rights and provide a range of resources. The goal is to empower individuals by providing them with tools to educate those who do not understand diabetes in order to negotiate resolutions.
In cases where our legal staff determines the individual needs direct legal representation, he or she is referred to a member of the Association's Advocacy Attorney Network. This is a network of hundreds of lawyers around the country who have agreed to work on diabetes discrimination matters. (We maintain a wealth of online resources for attorneys handling these cases and welcome those who would like to join our network .) In turn, our staff and key volunteers advise Network attorneys and other attorneys working on diabetes-related discrimination cases on legal and medical issues, provide referrals to medical experts, file friend of the court briefs in cases of major significance and provide other resources to help ensure successful case outcomes.
The Association invites all those facing discrimination to contact us for help. And all are welcome to become a Diabetes Advocate and join the fight to Stop Diabetes in their communities.
The American Diabetes Association is leading the fight to Stop Diabetes and its deadly consequences and fighting for those affected by diabetes. The Association funds research to prevent, cure and manage diabetes; delivers services to hundreds of communities; provides objective and credible information; and gives voice to those denied their rights because of diabetes. Founded in 1940, its mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.