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Problem at work

A

Allan4acre

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I am hoping someone can help me with this. My daughter has type 1 diabetes and teaches in a school in Birmingham. She has been told that she is not to take her blood levels or inject herself in front of other people but has to do it in the toilets! The head says they are not being discriminatory....any thoughts?
 
There's quite a few people on here, me included, who say the head is wrong. But more usefully, I think there's some teachers who may be able to provide helpful experience.
 
Is that in front of her pupils-Then I agree, she shouldn’t inject. Blood testing can be done discreetly and may be necessary.
Is it in front of her colleagues-Then I would say what a load of rubbish. If the head had said here is a nice cosy room to do it in private ok, but the toilet!! Good Grief. Get her to speak to her union rep.
 
I discreetly test in the classroom as and when needed - my students, who all have disabilities of one kind or another, understand this is something I have to do. They've even been known to suggest I check if I'm being sillier than usual!!

I'm cautious about injecting at lunchtime, but as I'm on lunch duty twice a week with students who are not allowed out of my sight without my permission and have no idea how long the dinner queue is until we get there which makes safely pre-bolusing almost impossible, I don't have an option but to inject at the meal table - again discreetly, under the table or with my fleece hiding what I'm doing if I'm sat next to a student who doesn't know me well but who have been warned what I am doing. My students just ignore me until I start eating!! The other three days I stay in my classroom and just get on with it regardless of who else is around.

There has never been any suggestion I go to the toilets, or elsewhere for my needs as my students' needs come first. In fact, I remember being quite startled by my line managers/HRs almost non-reaction to being informed I was now on insulin. No discussion of any kind and definitely no suggestions of what I should and shouldn't do!

The only circumstance I'd be cautious of is if I still worked with the one student who fainted at the mention of blood, not just the sight of it!

Are there any T1 children or other adults in your daughter's school, and what do they have to do @Allan4acre ?!
 
This is discrimination. Testing and injecting in a toilet is not acceptable.

Her employer has to make reasonable adjustments for her condition, type 1 needs to be controlled as she is taking insulin so making reasonable adjustments whether it's a staff room or allowing her time to check her bg levels and take insulin is necessary, a good pack for her to present to the head is here:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/resources-s3/2017-09/Advocacy pack_EmploymentV3-Jan2016_0.pdf

She needs to take a stand and also bear in mind that her head needs educating, type 1 is a life threatening condition so doing it to improve her welfare is necessary, also to help broaden knowledge and understanding around the condition. A Libre sensor would be ideal for her as she could simply scan her sensor whilst working and allow her to continue without stopping to test.
 
I agree it is discrimination, I don't see a problem testing in front of pupils or injecting
She becomes a positive role model for the kids.
How dare they tell her to do in the toilet.
I hope this can be sorted out as must be very upsetting.
 
I’m a supply teacher, and have never been told to test etc away from the kids - although I use a Libre sensor and pump. My biggest issue is that as mobile phones are banned in the classrooms, and I use mine to scan, log and calculate everything - so I just do that bit behind the desk. Nobody has noticed yet, and I make it clear when I arrive at a school that I need to do this. As type ones we’re covered under the equalities act of 2010, and our employers need to make adjustments for us to manage our condition. I hope you can get the understanding you need.
 
Thanks.
This is a message I got from my daughter this morning......

The problem isn't that they aren't offering me a place to do it, it's that they aren't allowing me to do it with my food in the bistro - so excluding me from eating with the others, UNLESS I do it in advance of going in, so I would have to do my insulin without my food in front of me, and guess the amount to give, because I wouldn't be able to see the amount of carbs on my plate. Which I'm not happy with. I could take a packed lunch but that's inconveniencing me, and saying I can't do the same as anyone else. So......I don't know if I'm just making a big fuss about nothing???
 
Hi @Allan4acre, Your daughter does not need to always eat everything on the plate. She can decide how much she wishes to eat in terms of carbs and protein if she counts that as well. Then inject for that.
The only issue really is if she wishes to allow for a very slowly absorbed meal such as an Indian curry ect in which she might elect to have a percentage at meal time and another 5 of her dose later.
Thinking outside the square, could she not enquire the day before what is on the menu ?
There is no need to be so picky.
Another issue with injecting at the table is about safely disposing of sharps without risk to others.
 
Hi @Allan4acre, as Juicyj says, T1 is recognised as a disability under the Equality Act and the Disability Discrimination Act. Your daughter’s employer may need to allow her access to a space in the bistro where she could inject once she’s calculated the carbs on her plate. Not knowing what the school bistro’s like, it’s difficult to know if this is possible. Maybe she could talk to the staff who work in the bistro and see if there’s somewhere behind the scenes she could slip off too.
There’s another thread here somewhere in which people discuss injecting in public. Most of us do it discreetly. Few object. Perhaps there are potential difficulties that could arise in the school because of the nature of the pupils and/or drug taking in the neighbourhood? It’s hard to tell if the head’s being unreasonable without knowing more.
 

If she doesn't know how much or what she will get how is she supposed to inject? She isn't being picky, its a very normal way of dealing with things (as well as being taught in DAFNE).

All of this feels like the head is being unreasonable - possibly in relation to the incident that happened in Wales last month?
 
Whilst it is inconvenient regarding mealtimes, I think the biggest problem is when testing is needed at other times.
What does the head expect if your daughter feels she is going hypo in the middle of a lesson?
Should she abandon her class, go to a bathroom and test or should she wait until the end of her lesson before testing and potentially pass out in front of the class or run high at all times to avoid hypos and risk long term complications?
 
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And would they apply the same rule to a student/pupil who is T1??

Under no circumstances is it acceptable to inject in a toilet. The school has a duty of care to all persons on site, and our condition is covered under the disability act as already mentioned - the head isn't called **** is he or she?!
 
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Kitedoc, with all due respect, that's a pretty unhelpful reply. "There is no need to be so picky" is just wrong.

There's many cases where I won't know till the food is in front of me, or even tasted, how much I'm going to eat and hence how much I'm going to need to inject.

Re safely disposing of sharps - is it a long time since you had pen needles? They're trivial to safely handle temporarily - I put mine in my pocket after folding the bit which sticks into the vial down, or back in the pot I took the new one from, in both cases to dispose of safely later.
 
Totally agree with everyone who has mentioned that this is an issue covered by the Equality act and that use of a toilet for injecting is wholly unacceptable.

In regards to injecting before entering the 'bistro' - is it possible for your daughter to find out what the meal is each day before lunch? At our work canteen I am able to find out what is available each morning on the specials if I happen to want one and I have been able to build a list up over time with carb counts. I then do my testing and injecting around 10-15 minutes before I head off for lunch.

There may be a wide and varied selection with constantly changing portion sizes at your daughter's work that may not make this feasible but just a suggestion.
 
helensaramay said:
I guess if a school head read this version of the same event, they could be quite concerned and start putting ludacrous rules in place.
Click to expand...

That's a bit of a different account isn't it! It's probably a good idea not to leave a pen armed with a needle around, but if you don't do that (as we're told not to, and even I don't any more ), it's going to be quite hard to stick people with a needle. An autolancet OTOH seems really quite likely - I can definitely see a kid thinking that's a fun thing to do. Simple enough to prevent though...
 
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