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On a scale of 1-5, how important do you think it is for the T1D community to push back against diabetes jokes made on TV/in movies? 1 = least important, 5 = most important
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It is important bc the general public doesn’t know even the basics of the disease. Even dramatic shows exhibit misinformation. Jokes rarely reflect accurate information.
when they do that it is saying more about then than me. They need to learn and get more information about diabetes
it matters to me less now but it had a strong, negative impact on me as a kid with type 1. i think that is why it should be of utmost importance.
I’m not sure I have ever really noticed diabetes jokes on TV or in movies.
Jokes? The saddest joke about diabetes is how many health care providers know so little about the difference between T1 and T2 diabetes. Hah! I think it is more important to push back about misinformation.
It seems we soon won’t have jokes. It’s a JOKE, so let it go, let it go.
I’ve never seen diabetes as a joke on tv/movies and I don’t think it would bother me if I did. It’s the false information they give about Diabetes and confuse people even more about Type 1. Just recently on New Amsterdam they had an older lady diagnosed with Type 1 and they were showing the needle used for her insulin and it was HUGE. I laughed. Why would someone choose to show such ignorance on such a big level. Loose the drama…please.
Ditto. I mentioned misinformation on TV. How about someone in diabetic shock needing insulin? Yes if you want to drive bg down low enough to kill them.
Jokes are just that and sometimes spur thought. The Joke is the US Healthcare system where patients fight with health insurance companies frequently have to fight to find approved DME providers. I fought one year until April for them to tell me who I could buy Pump Supplies from. Thank goodness I knew how to game the system the year before and had plenty of supplies. I finally called the CEOs office and read the company the riot act.
Learn to take a joke and roll with it. Life is hard enough, and people force there opinions too much already, lighten up.
Honestly doesn’t have any impact on me what so ever.. You’ve got to take everything with a grain of salt or sugar if you’d like. I’ve got more important things to be concerned about like my health, family, finance and well being.
I agree!
I chose “other” because having type 1 diabetes is not funny; on the other hand laughing feels so good and actually is good for the soul. This year there has not been much to laugh at, so if the diabetic on South Park is made fun of, laugh at it and go forward.
I put 5 but have never seen a diabetes joke on tv. I don’t watch much. I put 5 because of the young children with diabetes If it is a bullying kind of joke, 5. Yet, if instructive in the story then it depends how it is presented. I believe that all people with lifelong challenges in life need to be treated with respect and demonstrated in our entertainment. Humor can be good, but it does not have to be distasteful and strike against people with diabetes. Humor against the condition itself could be a better approach but done in a matter of respect and compassion for the people who have it.
There are some jokes that I can laugh along with, but others bother me. The ones that trouble me most are the ones where a person eats a large cookie/sundae/other form of junk food and says, “Well, I’ll probably get diabetes now.” T1D is NOT caused by sugar consumption, and considering how difficult insulin is to get for some people, that in itself isn’t something to joke about.
I think diabetes and those living with it deserve better, smarter, actual funny jokes and that we need to write them to get them. Kudos to all already doing so, that feels like front lines. I put a safe “3”, which is more of a reflection of my privilege. I thought a few moments and this feels like a “5” situation. Stigmas and misinformation breed shame and trauma and kill people.
It’s not the jokes…as long as the jokes are actually funny of course. It’s the misinformation about diabetes overall and especially the confusion between T1 and T2 in general that drives me crazy. I’m much more concerned when a “serious” show or news segment misleads the general public with bad info. They are also not good about differentiating between T1 and T2. I’ve had too many coworkers tell me that treating a hypo is bad for my health. When I try to explain the reality, their response is too often, “Well I saw it on the news.” (I’m the one with the disease! I do know better than some ill-researched and badly worded segment!) Infuriating. You want to be a lazy writer and toss in yet another joke about too much sugar giving a character diabetes? I can take it. It’s the media feeding the lazy writers that misinformation that bugs me. Forget about fighting the jokes. How about fighting to give us T1s some real representation? How many T1 characters can you name on any show, be it a comedy or drama, that really portray the truth about our day to day lives? I’d love to watch a sitcom about a funny T1 who runs a cafe called Sugar Daddy’s. Or better yet, someone in one of the many dramas/procedurals who has T1 and it’s shown as just a normal part of that character’s life vs. a one note nod to “disease” of the week.
I’ve never seen or heard of one. So what problem are we pushing back on?
I’ve never heard jokes about diabetics is any kind. Why create an issue that doesn’t exist?
I said 5, only because when I was still able to work I heard a lot of distasteful and uneducated jokes from my fellow healthcare providers. Then hear them say the same thing to patients. smh
Like some others have commented, I am more concerned about misinformation. Social media is flooded with misinformation as well as disinformation on all topics.
Seriously?!? Jokes are what you’re concerned about??
depends on the nature of the joke, but overall, these jokes on TV are only a fraction of the discriminatory and stupid stuff out there. I’d focus more on legislation, rights violations.
It’s a joke for heaven’s sake.
I’d rather see efforts going in to making insulin affordable and not having two different structures for co-pays with Medicare. If I were in MDI my insulin costs would be $180 a month ($90 for tier 4 need), in pump, because it’s part B I’m paying about $235 a month.
How do you get for cheap on Medicare? Mine through Part B is $864.
I think it’s more important to portray it accurately, even when it’s the subject of a joke. It’s so misrepresented and that feeds into the misconceptions the general public has about it.
I have never heard of a joke about diabetes but if they do have a joke do it about real diabetic life. we as diabetics have done some stupid things that we know to be funny so why not joke about as long it’s real get diabetes out there so more people know more about diabetes. Help us fight for the things we are fighting for !!!!
I personally LOVE diabetes memes. (If you haven’t, go look them up..!)
But I don’t care if people joke about diabetes in real life or on tv. I joke about it all the time. Sure, people don’t know what they’re talking about when they say “oh man, this ice cream is gonna give me diabetes”..but it doesn’t bother me any. Sometimes I’ll order some kind of big pancakes or a brownie at dinner and call it ‘diabetic death’. Having diabetes for your whole life sucks, so why not make a little light of it.
Haven’t heard a T1D Joke … ever. This is not an issue. If it was I would remind folks “Sticks and Stones can break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” Get on with life.
The only ones that bother me are if they refer to people causing it ourselves. I love seeing a TV character with type 1 if it is represented fairly correctly, just to raise awareness. I’ve been type 1 for 61 years and when the Steel Magnolias movie came out, my mom and dad went to see it not knowing what it was about and had to leave part way through because it terrified them. I was still young and we didn’t know all the wonderful things coming for type 1’s !
OK, here’s my crack at it. A scientist, a pharmaceutical CEO, a politician, and a minister go into a bar. The scientist says I’ve got the greatest gee-whiz invention for T1D since Methuselah was a teen ager. The CEO lifts his glass and says he’ll make millions and millions. The politician says he’ll design a system where everybody who needs it gets it and it’ll be dirt cheap. The minister folds his hands and says, “Let us pray, let us pray, let us pray.” They all finish their toasts, wipe their chins and walk out of the bar.
Nothing happens. But a little Rumpelstiltskin type of a guy holds up a little vial. A bystander asks him what’s in the bottle. “Frustration.” Rumplestiltskin says, “Pure, unadulterated frustration. It’s sold for years and has continued to sell as good as ever. May it go on forever and ever.” And they all lived happily ever after, each dusting off their respective silos and keeping them clean.
If the jokes were not against the diabetic, rather the public or current incorrect beliefs and were informative, they may be good and informative, also remembering that medical scientific finds change often. I would want none of my medical conditions 110yrs ago.
3. Sure I would love for everything to be accurate. But people being people, many times the information/news is not accurate. And this leads to all the stupid things I hear from people.
Do I lose sleep over it? No, but I spend a lot of time trying to correct those inaccuracies.