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Islets of Hope diabetes civil rights laws | ||||
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This article and the original publication PA-03-2006 were written by Lahle Wolfe; revised 12/2006 Free publications from Islets of Hope Diabetes and civil rights law: An overview of your legal right to equal access to programs, benefits, opportunity, accommodations, education, and employment. Covers legal rights to equal access to benefits, accommodations and opportunity, and the right to administer diabetes related self-care in public places and at work. Great for anyone who wants to know what the law says about diabetes accomodations, care, and descrimination at work, in schools, and in public places. Includes comprehensive information and examples. Covers the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Assistance. Also, tells where and how to file discrimination complaints. IOH Publication PA-04-2006; 32 pages. Revised 12/06. Diabetes Legislative Headline News Your Child's Right to an Education Diabetes-Friendly Schools Schools That Discriminate |
Frequently asked questions about administering diabetes care in public and the work place This article contains excerpts from Islets of Hope publication PA-03-2006. You can view and print the publication in its original format at PA-03-2006. Download free Adobe software to read our publications in .pdf format 5. Why can’t a person with diabetes check their blood sugar or take their insulin before heading out to a public place like a restaurant?Sometimes, they can and do. But it is important to understand that when a person should test their blood sugar depends on a lot of things that are not consistent in day-to-day diabetes care. Illness, medications, stress, foods eaten, in fact many things in daily life, all can have a rapid and dramatic affect on blood sugar – making it higher or lower, and sometimes in a matter of minutes. In general, people with diabetes have the most unstable, dynamic blood sugar changes in the 1-2 hours just before the next meal, and are more likely to be stable after eating only if the proper amount of insulin has been injected. Without proper timing of a blood sugar check it is easy to miscalculate the amount of insulin needed. Another major factor in how close to eating a person needs to test blood sugar is the type of insulin a person takes. For example, rapid-acting insulin can begin to work in as little as 5-10 minutes. A person with diabetes needs to know what their blood sugar reading is as close to injection time as possible because sudden changes in blood sugar levels often occur in people with diabetes – especially in children. A blood sugar reading too soon before a meal or injection could give false information about how much insulin is needed. If a person injects insulin to cover food to be eaten within a certain time frame and the food is not eaten during that time, it will result in an overdose of insulin. Once insulin has been given to cover a meal, the person is committed to having to eat within a certain period of time, and has to eat the right amount of food. . “Insulin shock” occurs when too much insulin has been given. This state can easily become a life-threatening medical emergency. Simply stated, all persons with diabetes – especially children, those newly diagnosed, on insulin pumps, or who have brittle diabetes, or who take rapid-acting insulin – should test as close to the time of eating/injection as is possible. To do otherwise, puts them at serious risk for medical complications. 6. What is wrong with testing/injecting in the bathroom at the restaurant? It is close to the table so these things could still be done close to a meal.Would you want to have a sterile medical procedure done while sitting on a dirty toilet in a room filled with bacteria and germs? One where your skin would be pierced exposing you to urine, blood, fecal matter, and bacteria? Would you want your child’s pediatrician giving a shot or drawing blood in a public restroom? Preparing insulin requires a clean environment and often a stable surface to place their insulin and testing gear. A lap on a toilet is not sterile, nor stable. A restaurant table is also not likely to be sterile, but it is stable and exposure to human waste is less likely than it would be in a bathroom. A second consideration is how it makes a person feel who already has a disease that is not their fault. Insisting diabetics provide necessary medical care to stay alive in public bathrooms can lead to feeling stigmatized as if s/he were injecting illegal drugs and somehow is seen as either a threat or insult to those around them. Injecting insulin is not illegal, immoral, or something a diabetic can simply put off until later: insulin keeps them alive.
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