When I was 11, I was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes. Growing up with this new condition, there were times where I felt defined by a “single story” —judgements about food choices, weight, and health remain pervasive. However, the distinction was never made between Type 1 and Type 2. During COVID, when the media kept repeating people with “diabetes” were more likely to die, I began to realize how many news sources—even health related ones—also failed to differentiate.
To combat this, I founded Diabetes Differences, a public service initiative dedicated to improving awareness and understanding of Type 1 Diabetes through outreach and advocacy. One of my core missions is encouraging accurate and thoughtful representation of the differences between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in media, marketing, and public communication.
With the improvements in AI, it has made it possible for me to search through huge amounts of data in very short time periods. With this data, I reach journalists, researchers, and government officials and ask them to distinguish between these two very different diseases. To date, I’ve sent out over 500 emails and letters to magazines, online medical journals, etc and the response has been incredibly positive. For example, Nature.com published 20 articles in the last two years without specifying between Type 1 or Type 2 in the headlines, now the team is thinking about how to improve this – a big win for us all.