Is a child who is diabetic ill?

[HuntedForest]

DS (9) has homework. Two paragraphs of text.

The first is about a 10 year old who fell on the playground, broke his arm and went to hospital, X-ray, cast etc.

Second about an 11 year old who is diabetic, has to check his blood sugar levels throughout the day and inject himself with insulin.

Questions:
What are the similarities and differences between the two stories?
Are the two boys healthy? Are they ill?

I actually don't know what answers they are looking for 🤣
The first one is that they are about health, one an accident, one an illness, one short term, one long term.

My instinct would be to put they are both healthy. I'd also say they are not ill. My uncle is diabetic and wouldn't classify himself as ill unless he had something else in addition to diabetes. So basically my question is, if someone is diabetic, are they always ill?

I would say the person with diabetes is ill. An illness is caused by disease; disease being an abnormal condition that affects all or part of an organism. On that definition, diabetes is a disease of the metabolism. So yes, ill.

The first boy isn't ill 'just' injured so he is healthy in terms of illness definition.

They are both my uneducated (in health) opinions though, so may be completely wrong!

Rather than an illness, it is a lifelong medical condition that can be managed with the right medication.

If not properly controlled it can make you very ill indeed, and can be fatal.

If the second kid miscalculates his carbs, grows quickly, gets tired, catches a virus, sometimes does nothing different at all, he's not necessarily going to be ill, he's going to be dead.

It's not going to disappear. His immune system is malfunctioning, he's at increased risk of other autoimmune diseases and all number of other complications for the rest of his life.

The other kid is largely temporarily inconvenienced, bar some effects that depend on how well he heals (better than many diabetics), the type of break, how good his treatment is.

I'm sympathetic towards somebody with a cast on. But they aren't an ongoing concern.

But that's the problem with hidden disabilities.

I doubt there is a right answer, the point is for the children to muse over this and have this discussion? They are both grey areas, if you see "ill," and "healthy," in very black and white ways.

I would say it depends on context. If you are discussing illness in terms of health care provision, then yes - both these people need to be considered. We need people fixing broken bones and helping people manage their chronic illnesses.

If you are discussing ill in terms of "needs to be off school, in bed," then no.

As this is presumably for English, it doesn't matter.
He just needs to get his viewpoint over.

If it were Biology it would be different.

Broken arm boy acute illness
Type 1 diabetic boy chronic illness

Thanks, it's for science. Trying to now explain why the answer to Imagine you asked S and F "how are you?" What would they reply? is not "I don't know, I've never met them."

@HuntedForest

Thanks, it's for science. Trying to now explain why the answer to Imagine you asked S and F "how are you?" What would they reply? is not "I don't know, I've never met them."

That would be Sociology or Psychology.

Both could say they were fine, one could say 'do you want to sign my plaster cast?' and the other could reply 'WHY? Why do people keep on asking me HOW I AM? I'm sick of it'. Or both being boys, they could witter incessantly about Fortnite or Minecraft for hours.

He went for "I'm fine." and "I'm fine."!

They sound like brillint questions designed to make kids think. I love it!

@HuntedForest

He went for "I'm fine." and "I'm fine."!

He's good at Psychology and the conventions of interaction/conversation, then.

A budding Social Scientist, as it were.

Generally, I don't think "healthy" is a good word to describe someone who does not have a disability. That would mean that disabled people are "unhealthy", which they are not.

Diabetes of either type is a long term medical condition that needs to be monitored and managed. That is how I see myself anyway, as a type 2 diabetic.

A broken arm is a serious injury (I've had been one of those too), but with proper medical attention it will usually heal well and is temporary.

That would be my contribution anyway, rightly or wrongly.

The 1st child has an acute condition that may temporarily incapacitate him, cause him pain, inconvenience and may require medication and medical advice but he will eventually return to normal, assuming no complications.

The 2nd child has a lifelong condition that needs to be managed in order to keep him healthy. He also needs medication and medical intervention, advice from healthcare professionals. Whilst he isn't ill when the disease is managed properly he has the potential to be very ill if he doesnt eat properly or administer his insulin correctly.

I think my 9 year old would struggle with this...

I think there's a big difference between a well managed chronic illness and an out of control or in medicated chronic illness. I have anxiety and depression. I take medication and overall it works and I'm not massively anxious or low. So I wouldn't say I have a mental illness. But actually I do need medication to be 'normal' so I probably do? This is a deep question for a 9 year old. But good they're doing this thinking!

I have an 11 year old diabetic and yes, she is probably what you’d consider ‘ill’
It’s lifelong but every day is a battle. Blood glucose too low or high causes her to feel sick, dizzy, shaky, can’t think
If an insulin dose is ever wrong it coukd be fatal.
Every cold she gets even makes her levels terrible so high

Diabetes is very individual though you could have 100 children with it all eating the same food and doing the same activity and all be affected differently some fine some not and all bg levels possible it should on paper be ‘manageable’ but I’m reality it can be affected by heat, cold, emotions, hormones, exercise, stress and what you did on the last Thursday in 2017 yes it’s that random !

Diabetes is a disability. We had diversity training at work and we all had to name a disability. I didn't have to think hard for an answer as I am type 2. The trainer also had it and said I was right. Don't know if that is of any interest in answering the question OP.

My son who has type one diabetes considers himself to be healthy and would not describe himself as "ill". He has a chronic condition (which is also a disability). There are times when he is not healthy and times when he is ill however. In some ways it is similar to having a broken arm, although of course it won't get better. Part of his pancreas is broken, so he has to perform the functions of his pancreas in a different way. These ways are inconvenient, ineffective, demoralising and so on but they can be performed in different ways. On the other hand,, I would think it was fair to describe what he has as a chronic illness (and it does make him feel unwell for at least part of most days) and if someone described it as having a "health issue" I would take umbrage. I would if someone described him as unhealthy though. At 9 my son would have been able to engage with a question like this and my other children would to. It's a good stretching question, although it really requires the children to have a high level of maturity to engage with in a way that doesn't have the potential to be offensive.