You know the joke:
Sandy has 30 candy bars. She ate 27. What does she have left? Diabetes.
Yeah, that's so funny. And inaccurate (really, I'm not going to explain this to you because if you don't know, you probably need to be the one doing some research).
Perhaps people will say that I'm a little stuck up if I find offense at diabetic jokes so easily. But answer this for me:
What's funny about about finding out you're a diabetic at the age of 9 because you've gone into a comatose state?
What's funny about having to learn the proper way to fill and inject a syringe full of medicine at the age of 9?
What's funny about being afraid to fall asleep some nights because you think you might die in your sleep due to blood sugar complications?
What's funny about wondering how badly a piece of food can hurt you?
What's funny about picking a new spot to jab a needle into your body every day?
What's funny about wearing thousands of dollars on your hip in the form of a machine that keeps you alive?
What's funny about the insurance companies that complicate covering the expenses of your medical needs.
What's funny about knowing your mom blames herself for "letting" you get sick?
What's funny about diabetes?
The answer is simple - nothing. There is absolutely nothing funny about diabetes (unless you're a diabetic, because we could go on with the jokes about our disease for days).
I understand that many of the jokes out there circulating diabetics are not necessarily aimed at type 1's like myself, but they aren't funny, regardless of who they are pointed towards. They conjure misconceptions about my disease that create ignorant people who lack the desire to even learn the difference in type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
I often see people I consider friends share these diabetic "jokes" on social media platforms. They make my blood boil because I think that if, just for second, these people could see what I put in for this disease day in and day out, that they just might reconsider saying something so stupid.
I try not to dwell on the negatives of my disease. It has become part of my life, who I am, and what makes me unique. I don't remember a life before diabetes, but I do know what an ongoing life with it is like. It's hard. It's tolling, it's stressful, it's unfair. Nothing about it is funny.
In my defense, I try to laugh at my disease every chance I get. I make and share jokes with those closest to me who have been on this road with me and who get it. I'm not always a prick (haha get it? A prick? Because I'm a diabetic and I prick my finger? Okay, lame joke, I know.)
Next time you want to share something "funny" with your cool friends mocking diabetics, just remember what the day in the life of someone who had no choice in this matter is like.
So, yeah. Next time you see that joke -
"Sandy has 30 candy bars. She ate 27. What does she have left?"
Maybe your answer should just be "3".
