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honestly. give me strength

serenity 24

Member
Messages
18
Location
Cheshire
Type of diabetes
Parent
Treatment type
Insulin
My daughter (22yrs old) type 1 since she was 15. Started a new job two weeks ago. Today her manager told her she can't test blood or take her insulin in the office as some people don't like it. She even asked her to delay her injection at lunch time as needles made her squeamish. Is that discrimination. I mean she has struggled to come to terms with diabetes had suffered with severe depression and is trying to get on with her life. This comments have made her sob in my arms today because it makes her feel like the disease is like a dirty thing. I don't know what to advise her. Any thoughts would be appreciated
 
No stupidity at its worst @RAH79 is great with this sort of stuff , hopefully he will pick up on my tag and come and help.
 
@RAH79 come in....!!

All employers as far as I am aware have to accomodate diabetes and injections in someway.

If they are not wishing her to inject in an office where do they expect her to do it? Have they said?

I ask because uf it is a toilet then this is unacceptable. However some employers have been known to give a room to diabetics to store the equipment and inject.

Are they allowing your daughter to blood test?
 
wow unbelievable how can people be so insensitive towards others who have diabetes... I relay think more awareness needs to be brought into the work place,,,, they are squeamish to needles what about the poor people who have to inject.....
 
Really sick people to the extreme
I do not wish bad for anyone but if the manager or the employee had this condition what would he or she do.
Sorry cant say a lot as I am t2 but I definitely can understand the pain.
Ridiculous
 
As the other topic mentions, they aren't allowed to do this under the Disability Discrimination Act. Well worth a read of the other topic as your daughter is fully supported by the law, and she should use that to her advantage.
 
Appalling behaviour from her work place and there have been recent threads on this subject, I feel so annoyed at times, just awful from other fellow human beings, WE ARE NOT CONTAGIOUS , WE DO WHAT WE NEED TO DO TO STAY SAFE AND ALIVE. it is discrimination, once she has composed herself and feels less like a piece of something someone has stepped in tell to go on line and find out all she can on the subject and other peoples experiences. Bless her X Please could you keep us updated.

Good luck and all the very best RRB
 
One of my diabetic friends went through the same thing. In the end, she checked her levels, did injections, etc in the office. The boss took her into his office and told her to leave, she left and sued them for discrimination as the boss was being an absolute jerk and bullying her for no reason.

If its a life or death choice, I would tell them to stick the job, your daughters health/happiness is more important than ANY job.
 
What a shocking way to treat anyone. It makes me want to say she should just walk out and get a job somewhere else but, as a retired person, that's easy for me to say. Your daughter might actually like her new job and it might be difficult for her to get another so she really needs to assert her rights and educate her colleagues and manager in the importance of testing and injecting. I'm really angry (on behalf of your daughter) that the manager put the ' delicate sensibilities' of her colleagues above the basic need for her to 'medicate' herself. Her self-esteem must have taken a blow but these bullies need to be enlightened and either look the other way or they must provide her with a safe place to test and inject. Poor girl - the fault isn't hers - it's theirs.
 
Did your daughter mention she was diabetic at her interview? Employers can dismiss any new employee for any reason, except any disability issues that were told about in interview.
 
That's really horrible. Poor thing! No wonder she was upset.

Don't let her be bullied like that. "Some people don't like it"? Yeah, well tough luck. I bet your daughter likes having diabetes a thousand times less. Diabetes is covered by the Disability Discrimination Act. I've found the mere mention of that seems to concentrate most people's minds. If your daughter feels unable to talk to her manager by herself maybe you or a friend could go with her for support? I'd have been nervous and upset too at her age.

My own daughter has epilepsy and she's dealt with discrimination at her first job. In her case it was more ignorance than malice. So it may well be worth your daughter enlightening them about the DDA and also diabetes itself. It could be the manager is just ignorant or thoughtless.

Please keep us updated. I hope all goes well.
 
 
This is terrible! And I feel so much for both you and your daughter, If I were you I would be sitting on my hands not to ring the manager and have a little chat! But I appreciate your daughter may not want that! She probably does not have the confidence to challenge her manager herself given how she has been feeling and only being two weeks into the job. I think I would have sobbed as well at that age. I wonder how she gets on with her Diabetic Nurse as they may be able to advise on the best route to take with this and may even speak up on her behalf. I don't think she should put up with it, it will set the seed that everybody is like that and she may spend her lifetime shying away from doing what in 'our lives' is as normal as visiting the loo! Echoing other posters, it would be good to hear a positive outcome to this!
 
Ask Diabetes UK for some clear leaflets about how T1s manage their diabetes. Your daughter can hand these over to her manager as she calmly tells her that she will be continuing to test her blood and inject her insulin when necessary, because she has to!
 
Print off diabetes complications and try and get a doctors note my last employer did this to me made me work 6 hours without any break which after a week or so I said stuff you I'm having my break and you cannot sack me because my condition is in my cv you know full well about it, she backed off and in the mean time I found work elsewhere where I can be open honest and deal with my condition how it's supposed to be dealt with and if I feel unwell I now feel comfortable to go and say look I need 10 minutes quiet time to sort myself. Working in an environment that doesn't let you deal or manage your disease/illness/condition is discrimination and if anything happened to damage her life long term you can take legal action but who wants to go down that route I'd rather find a new job. Takes time but for health sake it's the best option
 
Sorry meant to say the Disibility Discrimination Act does not exist any more - It is now the Equality Act 2010. Don't mean to be picky but its an improved version so worth knowing!!!! Sue xxxx
 
 
serenity 24 said:
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Sorry posted before I wrote anything. She went to work today and spoke to her manager, the manager apologised for the way she said it and that she hadn't meant to offend! She can test in the office but they have asked that she injects in another room. NinaB73. I did have to sit on my hands to stop me ringing her boss. Diabetes needs to be brought more to the forefront for people to realise how big an impact it has on the person who is diagnosed and the family that it also impacts on. Bless her she also recently has been diagnosed as coeliac and has chronic fatigue, with depression tagged on too. She tries so hard to just get on with life but keeps getting knock after knock. I would so give anything to take all the illnesses from her
 
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