This Diabetes-Related Viral Tweet Shows How Clueless People Can Be

PSA: Try not to ask people with diabetes to skip checking their blood sugar, adjusting their insulin pump, or injecting insulin because you think it’s ~gross~.

Type 1 diabetes — although treatable — is a deadly and dangerous illness.

Meredith Barnes, a first-year at Texas Tech University, has had type 1 diabetes for 11 years. So when a classmate gave her a hard time about injecting insulin in class, she shared on Twitter.

gave myself my insulin shot yesterday in class & the girl next me said “can you like not do that right now” um no debra i’d like to live thx

A similar tweet then went viral, with 115,000 retweets and nearly half a million likes. And the thread is a great lesson in what not to say to someone with diabetes.

For example, try not to ask people to shut off their pump because it’s beeping. It’s not a cell phone y'all!

@AlyiahGonzales @mercurytommo @viccsilver @squashkittens @sophiamarianna1 @SamClark_23 One time my pump beeped duri… https://t.co/SyjrkgxAPp

And please, please, please don’t make rude comments.

@WesBrady @SamClark_23 Ive tested my sugar or given a shot in public and had people (strangers and people I know!)… https://t.co/4U2rMN2UmF

Let these people live. LITERALLY.

@alisonkate12 @OrbingPunk @WesBrady Its stupid, but their excuse is always like "needles bother me" or something li… https://t.co/FcVIOgk2TA

And if you are thinking “do they have to do that here?” the answer is YES.

@antdp425 @SamClark_23 Once someone asked me "Do you need to do that here?" while I was at McD's

If you find it "disgusting," it's simple: DON'T WATCH.

@hopethehippie @AlyiahGonzales @mercurytommo @viccsilver @squashkittens @sophiamarianna1 @SamClark_23 I was at work… https://t.co/bTfVGhSKpQ

And try not to ask them to take their pump off.

@SamClark_23 My dads type 1 and when he was told to go through the X-Ray machine for TSA he told them it messed wit… https://t.co/fQ6rQNrz1K

If anything, these are actually great opportunities to learn some things about diabetes, whether a person has type 1, gestational (which happens during pregnancy), or type 2, which is the most common type and may or may not be treated with insulin.

@iamdanjapan @hopethehippie @AlyiahGonzales @mercurytommo @viccsilver @squashkittens @sophiamarianna1 @SamClark_23… https://t.co/eI5uUuCBN4

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