Diabetes UK tackling stigma campaign

[LittleGreyCat]

I have been told that Diabetes UK (not this organisation) recently ran a media campaign over tackling the stigma associated with Diabetes.

I haven't seen it, so I wondered if anyone else had?

 

[Jaylee]

I have been told that Diabetes UK (not this organisation) recently ran a media campaign over tackling the stigma associated with Diabetes.

I haven't seen it, so I wondered if anyone else had?

Hi,

From memory there was a “strike out stigma” drive back in November 25?

 

[LittleGreyCat]

I found a thread at the end of January 2026 on the Facebook page, which I thought(!) I was following.
The responses seem to be T1s hating on T2s, which kind of proves their point.

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Hi,

From memory there was a “strike out stigma” drive back in November 25?

Do you follow Diabetes UK on Facebook? [Just being nosey.]
If not, can you remember where you saw it?
Just trying to work out if the communications strategy is working.

 

[Jaylee]

Do you follow Diabetes UK on Facebook? [Just being nosey.]
If not, can you remember where you saw it?
Just trying to work out if the communications strategy is working.

Hi again,

Not on FB, no..
Though it could have been a “like” notification from someone else.
Or a share from somewhere.?
I seem to remember it had something to do with “diabetes day.”

 

[Antje77]

I found a thread at the end of January 2026 on the Facebook page, which I thought(!) I was following.
The responses seem to be T1s hating on T2s, which kind of proves their point.

Following pages or people on Facebook is completely hit and miss on what Facebook shows you in my experience.

I'm in various diabetes groups, including T1 groups, and the nasty posts by T1s on T2 are often unbelievably rude and ignorant. Please trust we're not all like that!

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Following pages or people on Facebook is completely hit and miss on what Facebook shows you in my experience.

I'm in various diabetes groups, including T1 groups, and the nasty posts by T1s on T2 are often unbelievably rude and ignorant. Please trust we're not all like that!

It used to be a thing on here 10+ years back but not recently.
I know most T1s are not like that.
I think there used to be a lot of resentment from T1s because T2s got more attention because there were so many more of them.
I suspect it may be yoof in the early years of adulthood which are always very hard.
Transitioning from childhood care to young adult care can be difficult.

 

[Antje77]

I suspect it may be yoof in the early years of adulthood which are always very hard.

Sadly not. They're often full grown people over 40. Young adults think that Facebook is for old people, they're on Tictoc.

 

[Melgar]

I really don’t get that mentality. It’s like people with Rheumatoid arthritis talking ill of those with osteoarthritis, because one is autoimmune and the other is wear and tear and or excess weight . So one is inevitable and the other lifestyle. Both born out of ignorance . T2 undoubtedly has a genetic component, the body looses its insulin sensitivity for reasons currently not specified and or the pancreas is unable to meet the demands required of it. It seems to me some people get confused because the prescription for T2 is centred on lifestyle changes. Lifestyle changes is recommended for many diseases, not just diabetes , cancers, bowel diseases ,GERD to name a few, but people have latched on to this simple ‘it’s all the fault of T2s mentality. Weight gain may well be as a result of the emergence of insulin resistance / a pancreas not able to produce enough insulin, not diet or lack of exercise. If this was the case then the vast majority of the population would have T2 diabetes, but they don’t, not even close . As always these attitudes are perpetuated by the nonsense and disinformation rampant on social media.

 

[Outlier]

There is a pervasive idea - even from some health professionals - that we T 2s have caused our illness ourselves because we ' let ourselves get fat' when weight loss after we sort out our blood glucose is irrefutable evidence that the T2 causes the weight gain, the weight gain doesn't cause the T 2

 

[CarbMaster]

There is a pervasive idea - even from some health professionals - that we T 2s have caused our illness ourselves because we ' let ourselves get fat' when weight loss after we sort out our blood glucose is irrefutable evidence that the T2 causes the weight gain, the weight gain doesn't cause the T 2

I have been told that Diabetes UK (not this organisation) recently ran a media campaign over tackling the stigma associated with Diabetes.

I haven't seen it, so I wondered if anyone else had?

I never saw the Diabetes anti stigma campaign. Maybe one of the main causes of stigma is that people get confused with the alleged link between being overweight and diabetes. It would be interesting to see what Diabetes UK's stance is on this.

One way to counteract this stigma is to explain the possible role of insulin resistance in weight gain. Of course some might argue that insulin resistance is caused by weight gain and that may be true in many cases however it's not helpful when people stick to a narrow range of factors that might cause diabetes.

Excess blood glucose can be caused by insulin resistance. Insulin resistance means we have too much insulin sloshing around in our blood which then can turn into fat. Athletes used to take insulin to build muscle but in the case of insulin resistance this doesn't happen unless maybe if we exercise - a lot!

So even if there is a strong correlation between weight gain and diabetes that correlation could be due to insulin resistance and not because someone is overweight/obese.

Also there are cases (including myself) where the first indication that I had T2 was unexplained weight gain. The increase in weight may have been caused by too much insulin as mentioned above.

So blaming/stigmatising T2 diabetics for their condition is not helpful but at the same time we must realise that once we've been dx'd then it's our responsibility to do our utmost to manage the diabetes.


Having said that