Free Shipping Worldwide

Making Diabetes more inclusive

by IBD Medical on October 04, 2022

Rohan is a T1D from Australia who is a big believer in sharing as much resources as possible to help bring more education, access and awareness around diabetes for the wider community.

To gain another individualised perspective around how diabetes access can be more inclusive for all, Glucology asked him a series of 8 questions to facilitate in him sharing his experience on how diabetes can be improved. Rohan also takes the chance to reflect on the resources that he's lucky to have access to, and how this plays a role in his determination to help others overcome their barriers that may be preventing them from getting the same access.  

Welcome to part 1 of Rohan's Q&A 💙

 

 

GENERAL OVERVIEW OF ROHAN'S INTERVIEW

1. What do you think is one of the biggest obstacles that people living with diabetes face in your current country of residence?

- Availability of resources, especially those who live in more rural areas and the type of diabetes you are diagnosed with

- For Rohan being diagnosed, he had a whole various different team of health supporters. He hears some people from rural areas have to travel to major cities and even then, they would have to try to get more information (or get limited information) from their closest GP

 

2. Do you think it's important to address the cultural differences and how it plays a role in someone's diabetes management and access? 

- Definitely. Rohan has travelled around Asia a lot. He says that genetically, diabetes is not as common in Asia & the knowledge around diabetes there is also limited and not yet quite understood. People with diabetes would struggle to live the best life that they can without that general knowledge. They could be easily influenced by people saying 'oh my grandma has diabetes too and she eats a raw diet'. 

- Cultural differences on exposure plays a very important role in how we treat things

 

3. For you personally, what has been the most difficult part of your diabetes journey so far? 

- Getting over the attitude or entitlement that things happen to you later in life. When you're younger, you tend to feel like you're invincible . So getting over the attitude and treating himself better has been the biggest and hardest obstacle of having diabetes type 1

 

4. Why are you passionate about sharing your diabetes journey and playing a part in advocating for awareness?

- Rohan acknowledges that not everyone gets the same sort of privilege that he has access to. For example, he has access to a team of different support people for free. Some people will have to pay, or they may not get subsidised for certain services/products

- Rohan believes that if he can access this knowledge and information, it wouldn't make sense for him to not share them with people and help them save a bit of money. Particularly if they are struggling with paying for medication! The least he can do is to share the knowledge that he has paid for and pass it forward to others so they can better their lives.

- The more knowledge people have, the more we can push for these companies to better their technology 

 

Part 2 is coming out soon ...
BACK TO TOP