“Legally Diabetic” - World Diabetes Day; Type 1 Diabetes and the Workplace

Meg wearing her libre - a glucose monitoring sensor

Today, 14 November 2025, is World Diabetes Day - a day commemorated every year, on the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting who co-discovered insulin in the early 1920s, as an opportunity to raise awareness and come together in support of diabetes. The theme this year is ‘Diabetes and Wellbeing’ with a focus on ‘Diabetes and the Workplace’, making it a perfect opportunity for our Treasurer, Megan McBlain, to tell us how being type 1 diabetic impacts her and her role as a Solicitor.

My experience living with Type 1 Diabetes

For those who don’t know me well, I am type 1 diabetic, having been diagnosed just over 8 years ago. Type 1 Diabetes is a life-long chronic condition whereby your body mistakenly attacks the cells in your pancreas resulting in little to no insulin being produced. The body needs insulin to survive, and therefore individuals with Type 1 Diabetes have to carefully manage the condition by regularly testing their blood glucose levels and injecting insulin doses.

As I will touch upon later, Type 1 Diabetes is not caused by the actions of the individual, such as diet or lifestyle, and instead is an unpreventable autoimmune condition. There is currently no cure for Type 1 Diabetes. Conversely, Type 2 Diabetes can often (though not always) be prevented and even reversed by losing weight and improving one’s diet.

Over the 8 years since my diagnosis, I have never wanted to let the condition stop me from achieving my goals. Despite the inevitable extra challenges that living with Type 1 Diabetes brings, I’d like to think that I have managed this and more, having completed skydives, a bungee jump and hiking to altitudes of 4,450m above sea level - and of course on a similar scale of adventure, qualifying as a Corporate Solicitor!

Type 1 Diabetes is present in all aspects of my life and it’s essential to be prepared to manage my blood sugars no matter the time or place, which often means that my family & friends and I are never far from an OJ carton or two. It also means that as a type 1 diabetic I have a restricted medical driving license which has to be renewed every three years, luckily I don’t have to re-take the test every time though! This is to say that there isn’t a single area of my life where my diabetes doesn’t impact me, and work is most certainly no exception.

‘Know more and do more for diabetes at work’

I was pleased to see that the focus of this year’s World Diabetes Day was centred around wellbeing and diabetes in the workplace, and even more so when I read the following statistics published by the International Diabetes Federation:

7 in 10 people living with diabetes are of working age

3 in 4 people living with diabetes have experienced anxiety, depression or another mental health condition because of their diabetes

4 in 5 people living with diabetes experienced diabetes burnout

It’s clear that discussing the topic of diabetes in the workplace is vital not only for those who are diabetic, but also for their colleagues to better understand how they can support them. The legal profession is known to be a high-pressure environment, and stress is known to have a negative effect on blood sugar levels, so the combination of the two can be…stressful! I have personally found that having colleagues who, whilst they may not be able to fully understand what living with diabetes is like, are willing to listen and learn to be able to better support me, makes all the difference.

The impact of stigma

There can be harmful stereotypes and negative misconceptions spread in the workplace regarding diabetes. It’s not uncommon for comments regarding diet and lifestyle to be aimed at those with Type 1 Diabetes, and misplaced jokes can ilict the connotation that diabetes is their fault. It’s not always easy, but I do try to take the opportunity to educate people on the correct understanding, and this is why days like World Diabetes Day are so important to raise awareness and shed light upon the truth behind the condition.

Diabetes UK are launching a campaign to ‘Strike out Stigma’, aimed at challenging the inaccurate assumptions that people can have about those living with the condition and to spread awareness of the detrimental impact this can have. Diabetes UK published that over half of the people they surveyed said that stigma, judgement or shame meant that they sometimes avoid medical appointments, which shows how incredibly dangerous stigma can be, both physically and mentally.

Make a Difference

By talking about the challenges and misconceptions which diabetics face this World Diabetes Day, it will open the door for much needed discussions on what can be done to ensure a stigma-free environment, both inside and outside the workplace.

I think it’s important to share that Type 1 Diabetes impacts me and so many others in ways that are not always visible, which can make it harder for those around us to fully appreciate the severity of the condition. I hope however, that from reading my article, people will not only have a clearer understanding of what exactly Type 1 Diabetes is and the wide-ranging impact it has on a person’s life, but maybe even encourage someone to offer greater support to a friend or colleague living with Type 1 Diabetes, who really needs it.