Children With Type 1 Bullied because of their Diabetes

Oh god that’s awful pet. Some people are just cruel. I hope that you know that not everyone is like that and soon enough school will be a distant memory. I deal with quite a lot of young people who have been affected negatively by T1 please feel free to add me as a friend. If you ever want to talk I’m here :slight_smile:

Thanks for posting this. It’s important to be aware of this even when you think your child is fine. It’s a good reminder as we start the school year.

I left school 8 years ago. Some things are too painful to forget

I don’t remember being bullied by my peers, it was by their parents. Ironic? I was diagnosed in the middle of the sixth grade and by the end of the year all my “friends” were not allowed to hang out with me because I “did drugs” or that’s what they said there mom told them. I went to a private catholic school with a class of 30 students max in my grade. It was miserable and the school itself did little to aid the situation and often made taking care of my diabetes harder for various reasons, and this was all 1999-2002ish. It was a group of “soccer moms” who had very little else to do with their time. I knew what was going on then but the story was later corroborated by a friends mom who was close to this group of “women” but allowed her daughter to still hang out with me. Her daughter was then ostracized slightly as well, but because her mom was friends with this group it was to a lesser degree than I was.

It’s not always about the kids when it comes to bullying and I definitely have the scars to prove it.

I hear you - I left school 11 years ago and I feel exactly the same way - I still need therapy

This is the sort of thing that really get’s me. At the end of the day any of those Stupid women’s kids could have developed T1

P.S. The parent who changed the school’s policy toward bullying (I know her) did not have a child with diabetes. But her teen was being mercilessly bullied on the school bus, which the school claimed they were not responsible for since it was off school grounds, being followed home from the bus, etc. One mention of a lawsuit changed school policy. Hope something like this may work for other school districts. Parent had met with bullies parents, many meetings with the principal, etc. Bullies’ parents did nothing; school essentially just slapped the kids on the wrist. Because of this parent’s persistence, school identifies and gets tough with the bullies, gives parents warning, and suspends them after second or third reported instance. Once the bully spends a week at home unschooled, their parents see how their child’s behavior is hurting their own child and are more prone to listen.

It’s unfortunate that the only way to move someones hand these days is to threaten to sue them. I run a T1 and Eating Disorder charity and I am finding this to be more and more the case,

I went through terrable times when I was in school b/c of other kids thinking I was so sick. Junkie, drugie? Got all those with some more at that time. I feel for kids in school with Type 1

The only time someone tried to bully me I just laughed at him
(I was like 7 when this happened)

“Well you’re just a stupid diabetes kid.”
"Seriously? Diabetes kid? You needs to come up with betters insults. That is the WORST dis I have EVER heard!"
walks away

Now if someone even hints at saying something negative about my diabetes… or me in general all I have to say is
"Just remember, I legally carry needles."

Yeah I have actually said ’ I could kill you in your sleep, you wouldn’t even feel the needle !!!

I don’t have great memories of school because i was bullied for being different. I also had issues with a teacher as well. She thought children who had diabetes were similar to kids with learning disabilities. I did have one great teacher in 4th grade who decided that the kids in class needed to learn about diabetes so they won’t tease or bully. We read a story about a diabetic child. Then i brought my test kit and told them about how i delt with being diabetic. This really helped out but i know most teachers would not do this for their students.

It’s a shame to say but children have been bullied since I was a child and I’m almost 70. As someone said being different from others has always been the cause that kids have been bullied. My sister and I were picked on in elementary school and I didn’t have D then just being different from others was our problem. My parents didn’t raise use to pick on others because of differences so I attribute bullying as something that is taught at home. Children mimic what they see.