Perfect policy on diabetes
SHE’S our second female Prime Minister, but Theresa May could also be (at least, according to my own limited Googling) the first world leader to have type 1 diabetes. She’s certainly the first, it seems, to be so public about it, having revealed her condition to this newspaper in 2013. She later said: ‘I would like the message to get across that diabetes doesn’t change what you can do. ‘The more people can see that people with diabetes can lead a normal life doing the sort of things that other people do, the easier it is for those who are diagnosed with it to deal with it.’ So true! In type 1 diabetes the pancreas – a gland near the stomach – stops working, no longer producing insulin, the hormone that controls how the body processes sugars. Regular injections of synthetic insulin are essential, along with blood sugar testing and a healthy diet and lifestyle. But any suggestion that her condition might somehow impair her ability is ludicrous. Yes, it’s serious, but diabetes doesn’t change what you can do, whether that’s becoming Prime Minister, a doctor, teacher or anything else.