Situations when people assume that I am a T1D due to a poor diet always reminds me of the day I came home from being diagnosed. My grandmother said its because I ate too many cookies. That crushed me at 12 years old. I didn't know if she was joking or what at the time. I didn't know at the time T1D is an autoimmune disease. It would be interesting to know if the average person knows this.
It's not the public's fault. Most of the diabetes information out there is regarding type 2. T1D doesn't seem to get a lot of attention. When I was younger, I should have be more active in fighting to bring attention to my disease. At least once a week, I will wear some type of "fighting diabetes" or "cure" shirt. It does spark up conversation some times because people don't believe that I am a diabetic. Yet again people are thinking of type 2. The public needs to know the difference.
For children with T1D being lumped together with type 2s must be very difficult. It was for me as a kid. I knew I had some obstacles ahead of me as a child, but being active and eating well helped me distance myself from the diabetic label.
