Help!!

[Dana_Heath]

Hey- so this was my first year at college and there's 2 weeks left before we finish 1 of 2 years here. And on Friday my teacher asked me to leave the room because I was doing a blood test. I argued and showed that I completely disagreed with this especially as I was low, but I did as I was told and left and made sure he saw my perspective and how ridiculous it is to mention it now.

...He followed me out of the classroom for backchatting but I fought back. I ended up going down a set of stairs to the nearest bench and sat on my own for 25 minutes. The argument got my sugars lower...

I was told I have to leave the room in the future. Today I was scared to ask- I don't want to cause a scene so tried to last until the end of class. But within 5 minutes I realised it was a fast-drop hypo and I couldn't see straight and had every symptom. I saw the closest person to me (we were all leaving class) and just managed to put my hands on her shoulders and I told her (well accidentally said it quite loudly) that I couldn't see and I needed to get out.

I got outside and I was too low to test. I couldn't even see what I was drinking and didn't realise it was my water not my lucozade until someone said. Eventually I started to come up (after my friends basically all helped to save me I guess). Once I regained a little more awareness I tested and I was 2.3. I know it was silly of me not testing. But I feel so ashamed to make a deal out of it because people assume the wrong thing and think I can't manage it. I can. It was just a hypo.

I don't know where I stand in defending myself.

They say it's because of the health and safety of other students because of my blood. But I'm clean and tidy and don't exactly go smearing it on the walls or whatever.


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[vic hill]

tough one but first thing , make sure you have a friend who knows you are a diabetic on insulin poss at all lessons and at digs
second see you top teacher or head just ask for guidelines i.e. going low can you test outside class
0r buy mobile test bit by accu chek is a cassette 50 test s on a strip very good self containeded just obtain a sample of blood then check with drop of blood on strip NO STRIPS TO DISPOSE OF
ALSO NOTE how much energy is used by mental work and exams ps health and safety is sometimes over the top but for good reasons
any chance of a pump can help also the constant moniter of blood s is fast improving and only needs scan to tell if going high or low ps also drop insulin per carbs till you get stable
vic 59 years on insulin good luck .
hope you get other reply from students for input

 

[azure]

@Dana_Heath Does your college have a Disability Polucy? (They should) Do they have guidelines about how to deal with students with medical problems?

I don't see why you should have to leave class to test - not only could you be low, which would be dangerous, but you'd be missing some of the lesson too.

Do you feel ok talking to college about this yourself? Or could a family member or even your DSN explain that you need to test? Perhaps it's just ignorance of diabetes that's making them say this as it's perfectly possible to test discreetly and cleanly.

 

[catapillar]

Are you in England?

If so, you need to make a complaint to the head of your college. As a type 1 diabetic, you are protected from disability discrimination under the equality act 2010 - asking you to leave the room to test is discrimination and a breach of your colleges duties under the equality act.

 

[catapillar]

Here is some more information on your rights as a diabetic in education - https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Schools/Diabetes-in-schools-legal-information/

I agree with @azure , it's worth seeking support from your parents & DSN on how to frame the complaint - but it is unacceptable for anyone in education to be unaware of their responsibilities to disabled students & to be hindering their access to education by forcing them to treat their condition in an unsafe way.

 

[Winnie53]

To be treated in such an abrupt manner is a shock. I know. I probably wouldn't have handled that situation well initially. I sincerely believe the teacher doesn't understand. Not at all uncommon. This is what formal complaint processes are designed to address.

I'm a type 2 diabetic and I didn't understand that type 1's can die from a hypo until a type 1 diabetic I was acquainted with died of a hypo 5 years ago. I agree with the advice received to file a formal complaint, also to involve your parents and treatment providers.

Sorry to hear this happened to you.

 

[Juicyj]

Agree with what's said above this is discrimination, can you speak to the Principal and your student union to file a complaint ?

Asking you to leave the room is unacceptable, this is a serious matter and your teacher obviously doesn't understand the ramifications of the care you require to manage your condition, they need to be educated..

Good luck and please let us know how you get on.

 

[victry77]

I work with students at a college and this kind of behavior from a tutor would be highly unacceptable.

 

[6cats]

I am a teacher and I am sorry that this has occurred. There are major H&S issues around blood/products. However situations have to be dealt with sympathetically and with discretion. There will be a Policy that covers these situations and you are entitled to see it and go through it with TC a professional. Make absolutely sure that the college are aware of your situations and that they know h by uhow to deal with it. You should haven't seen any of the time to time a Personal Support Plan in place. The teacher concerned needs to be spoken to about behaving in a professionalism manner. Sounds to me like a meeting with the Principal might be in order. It could have been handled in a much more constructive and sympathetic way. Sort them out!

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[6cats]

Sorry that should read you should have a Personal Support Plan in place.......an appointed person should be aware of this. X

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[Dana_Heath]

Wow guys this is all really useful- thank you!! @vic hill: yeah everyone in class knows and about 10 know how to use my orange emergency pen if needs be- but only 1 teacher because he's had to use one before and another teacher vaguely knows because I went and asked for a meeting with him so he'd know what to do on the Sailing Expedition.
@azure I'll take a look- all things like that are on the college website so thank you I have a feeling Diabetes won't even have a mention in it though
@Caterpillar yep I'm in England- and that link is brilliant I was looking all afternoon yesterday for something like that!!
@Winnie53 yeah it came as a massive shock to me too!! I got asked to inject outside of the classroom too (and I argued at this, but I can see his side of the argument with sharp objects etc- but I don't go waving the needle around and I always tell the people next to me. I even move my chair back every time to avoid any risk.
@Juicyj I guess so yeah- I'm currently sorting another incident (bullying but that's going off topic) so I'm going to do all this in September at the start of the new year.
@victry77 hmm- that's interesting to hear as you're in his position I guess but still disagree with what's happened. I'll bare this in mind, thank you.
@6cats wow- same as I've just typed for Victry77, it's interesting to see how other teachers are viewing this. Yeah- and that's the bit he's emphasising with the H+S. I agree- not a comment made infront of the whole class. The class have agreed that it's out of order on his behalf and will stand by me if an issue rises. Oh yes of course- he's definately aware of how bad the situation can be now. Before I could just discretely deal with a hypo and he'd notice nothing. But now as I mentioned He saw me have a massive hypo and what it actually does to me. I couldn't see him when he was talking to me, but my friends said he looked sick with fear.

Thanks all for your comments- it makes me feel stronger in this fight


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[slip]

From what you've written it sounds as though you thought you might be low and so testing to see if you are, can I suggest you treat the hypo first (when in class) and then check shortly after if you have to. That way the urgency of testing isn't so great and you're more likely not to go so low as to frighten the tutor?!

 

[Dana_Heath]

Hey @slip my diabetic nurse/ doctor whatever he is called told me a while back I mustn't do that no matter the circumstances


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[isjoberg]

Hey @slip my diabetic nurse/ doctor whatever he is called told me a while back I mustn't do that no matter the circumstances


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The official line is always test before but if you can't see and you have other very severe symptoms I don't see the harm in treating first then testing when you feel a tiny bit better. In the last serious hypo I had I went from coherent and aware that I had a hypo to stumbling, falling and almost blacking out in less than 30 seconds - I thought I could make it home to test. Thankfully my sister was there and knew exactly what to do, but had I drank my juice before it would have been far easier for everyone involved!!

 

[1abRat]

If I'm sure I'm hypo then I'll eat something around 10 carbs and test ASAP. Not caused me any trouble in 24 years. Worst case scenario I'll over-treat and chase with a bit of insulin or rise and start falling again at which point I'll have more carbs. If a hypo is a really severe one things can quickly get out of hand if not treated ASAP.

Your teacher was out of line. If you terrified him then I suggest taking the issue up with the college now before they have time to forget how badly their actions affected you and the rest of your class.

Finally, Health and Safety is used as an excuse for things too often. The whole point of assessing risk is to try and find a safe way of working, not to ban someone from testing their sugar in class. If you dispose of your used strip responsibly or use something like an Accu Chek mobile meter and disinfect any (unlikely) blood spills on surfaces using an appropriate disinfectant then there shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Dana_Heath]

@isjoberg oh of course in an instance like that I'd treat it first yeah!! Yeah that sounds like me- I didn't want to mither or make people worry about nothing, but then I ended up getting them seeing how bad I got which was a tad embarassing. But they support me so much. And I couldn't be without them all


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[Dana_Heath]

@1abRat yeah that's a point- and the irony is we were in an Assessing Risk lesson (it's an adventure sport course). I keep all used strips in my case and bin them when I get home.


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[Crispy17]

Hi Dana_Heath.

I agree with the others, clearly discrimination and your teacher needs to go back and redo his teacher training.

On an unrelated note is that a Corn Snakes I see?

 

[Dana_Heath]

@Crispy17 thank you- the more opinions I get on this the better!
And yep- Marvin the corn snake love your beauty of a snake too


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[Crispy17]

@Crispy17 thank you- the more opinions I get on this the better!
And yep- Marvin the corn snake love your beauty of a snake too


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Marvin looks good, how old is he?