To ‘EDUCATE’ this teacher?

[Misinformation]

DS has Type 1 diabetes. He has to put up with stupid comments like ‘did you eat too much sugar’ regularly.

At school today, a boy asked him this. Teacher nearby started telling him what Type 1 is and he asked if anyone could get it and could you get it randomly.

Teacher said No which DS was quite pissed of about as it seems to imply he’s done something to get it or it’s in his genes (it’s not). He’s not the type to correct a teacher so I think I should?

Quite annoyed as if you’re going to educate someone, do it correctly!

I've returned to this thread today and re-read some of the OP's comments.

She says that her DS developed diabetes after a viral illness, so I take that to mean that in looking for an explanation - the human need to blame something - she has landed on the virus and to her that means her DS caught it, and so could anyone else. This is a very understandable reaction to a child developing a serious illness. One which has potential for serious complications.

I don't think educating the teacher in capitals is required, but I understand why she is upset.

think we are arguing over semantics at this point.

I think a lot of this is semantics tbh. There's some confusion about the meaning of 'random' for a start.

Say there are 10 people in a room. Each has an envelope with a number 1-10 written inside. Nobody knows what number they have.

An offical comes to the door, draws a number from a box in a lottery type situation and one person is chosen. That's random selection.

Conversely, say an offical comes to the door and picks number 3...because he almost always does...that's not a random selection. To the people in the room (who have no idea what number they have) it may appear random as if anyone can be chosen. But they can't. The selection isn't random, it's blinded. That's different.

The teacher was correct to say that T1 doesn't occur randomly. Not everyone has the genetic background to develop it. They don't have the no. 3 envelope.* Her answer needed more detail of course - to explain that we mostly don't know who will get it, we're blinded - but there's a time and a place and maybe that wasn't it.

• obviously a serious oversimplification to make a point

The official is the virus in that analogy by the way. The numbers represent different genetic backgrounds.
Okay, I've probably added to the confusion 😅

I thought you were very clear. Excellent analogy.

She says that her DS developed diabetes after a viral illness, so I take that to mean that in looking for an explanation - the human need to blame something - she has landed on the virus and to her that means her DS caught it, and so could anyone else

It is not looking for an explanation, it is what you are told when your child is diagnosed. Nothing at all to do with blaming anyone or anything. And given that type 1 is a condition we know little about when it comes to who may or may not develop the condition, then it is anyone who can develop it. There are tests which can be run on siblings when one child is diagnosed but there is.no general testing. So how do you know that you weren't born with the propensity to develop it if you've never had that test?

So how do you know that you weren't born with the propensity to develop it if you've never had that test?

You don't.
That doesn't mean people develop it randomly though or that just anyone will get it. The teacher was correct.
It's just we often don't know who will develop it, which is a different thing. We don't have that information. But the propensity to develop T1 diabetes is predetermined to a large degree. It's not fully understood but genetics definitely play their part.

Not at all, but what good it will do remains to be seen. My daughter has EDS and I attempted to educate her teachers. Went in for a meeting, armed with books, printouts, highlighted quotes from her specialist, handouts from the hypermobility society especially for schools and they smiled in my face and just carried on. It was a continuous uphill struggle with them (one teacher in particular so FU Mrs Burk). I was so glad when she left there.

Do you know everything about every medical condition there is out there?

Well the thinking was that some people are born with a propensity to get T1, but something has to trigger T1, and that may well be a virus/viral infection. Those not inclined to T1 might get the virus/viral infection and just feel off colour for a few days. My adult child became diabetic as a youngster and it was almost immediately after having a very odd illness which the hospital couldn't diagnose. He had an extremely odd rash, high temp ,and was off colour for a couple of days, then seemingly OK. Franky I think that the odd virus he had started T1.

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=jdrf.org.uk/for-professionals/school-pack/schools-e-learning-module&source=gmail-imap&ust=1690543212000000&usg=AOvVaw0hijzk-vg7NrF9ducv6aV4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.google.com/url?q=jdrf.org.uk/for-professionals/school-pack/schools-e-learning-module&source=gmail-imap&ust=1690543212000000&usg=AOvVaw0hijzk-vg7NrF9ducv6aV4

^^ send the teacher a link to this website with free training all about diabetes.

You are/did

They said Type 1 isn"t inherited and you came back with it is genetic....what don't you get....

When they didn't say it wasn't a genetic disposition in the first place.

The disease itself is not inherited. A potential genetic predisposition that increases your risk if there are certain triggers/environmental factors is not the same thing at all.as inheriting the specific disease. And this is why the vast majority of type 1 have no family link.

I would have a look on the Diabetes UK website for some leaflets explaining what Type 1 is exactly and give a copy to the teacher, perhaps you can suggest at the time that it might be a good subject to address when they have their personal education time, ( sorry I'm not sure what it is called these days) if there is a school nurse perhaps could take this forward. People need to be educated to type 1 as everything in the press is about Type 2 and refers to obesity.

You don’t know the context. The teacher was probably just saying that you can’t catch it like a cold. I think you’re looking to make a fuss about nothing. YABU

Op - you asked if you were BU. Most people think YABU.
why ask if you are not willing to accept any part of the answer? YABVU.

but they will still have the genes for it... because it is genetic!

This is an inherited disease

This is an inherited disease

This is an inherited disease

etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc and so on ad infinitum

it doesn't matter how much you quibble, it is STILL an inherited disease.

You dont get it if you don't have the genes for it

hence, it is an inherited disease

A previous poster kindly stated that people on this thread are deliberately being obtuse so I didn’t have to.

The fact is no one would know whether they had a genetic predisposition (if there is indeed one) to get Type 1 unless there was a history of it in their family so the first person to get it would indeed get it pretty randomly! By your thinking DS got it randomly out of his 3 siblings (same parents so same genetics) who were also exposed to Covid and other viruses and didn’t get it!

So therefore anyone could develop it anytime as they wouldn’t know they could get it until they did if there is no history in their family, just like DS.

DS is a highly intelligent 14 year old, can understand English and what what people say and is not prone to making things up (always an accusation on here if you say a thing about teachers) so he did not misunderstand what the teacher said.

My point was she shouldn’t have said something that wasn’t true that DS basically had something inherently wrong with him/had done something and that’s why he got it making the rest of the class think so too as they were all listening.

If she did say it to prevent the other child worrying that he may get it, that’s unacceptable as she should have thought how saying that would impact on the kid struggling with the life threatening illness! He knows that it was just shit luck but it’s understandably upsetting especially when you get people making stupid comments about sugar and connecting it to Type 2.

I personally think she got it mixed up with Type 2 because if she knew about Type 1 she’d have said it’s not known how people get it so she should be educated. Doing the email now.

You are being unreasonable.

You don’t have the full context in which the question was asked or how/what was actually said.

You only have your sons experience. Whilst his feelings are absolutely valid very young children are not accurate story tellers.

instead of being arrogant in educating the teacher have a conversation and give advice arojnd what you say to people.

Type 1 diabetes is not an inherited disease.

You can inherit the combination of genes that make you susceptible to autoimmune diseases and live your whole life without ever developing a single one of them.

Also, although scientists are working towards finding out what causes Type 1 diabetes, and autoimmune genes are a major topic of interest, they don't actually know what causes it yet. It is not a proven fact that "you don't get it if you don't have the genes for it" - that is, at present, just a theory.

The massive increase in new diagnoses since March 2020 would seem to support the "triggered by particular viruses" theory though!

It is generally understood that people without certain combinations of genes do not get it. Therefore it is genetic. The triggers are exactly that, triggers. No environmental factor (eg virus) will trigger type 1 diabetes in a person without those genetic factors. As the genes come from BOTH parents, it is perfectly likely that someone can have the genetic factors despite no history of T1 diabetes.

For goodness sake! some people don't seem to understand what inherited or genetic means! I have a genetic fault which causes cancer, Around half my relatives do. They don't all get cancer. The ones without this gene will never get the cancer related to this gene. The one with this gene might. It is genetic. I inherited it. That did not mean I would definitely get it. But I did. And my relatives with the same faulty gene might not get this form of cancer, but might pass it on, and on, and on, and their great grandson might get the cancer, and think "gosh, no one else in my family has this" but yes, they did, they just didn't develop the associated cancer

This👍

Mine too. How old are these kids? that will make a big difference surely

When we were about 7 a school friend was diagnosed with type 1 and I vividly remember our teacher having to explain it’s not something you can “catch”

We all have unique ‘faults’, just as we all have unique talents and strengths. I teach children with T1, Cystic Fibrosis, severe eczema, alopecia, coeliac disease, autism, ADHD, heart defects, epilepsy and deaf and blindness.

Firstly, I don’t know how or why each of these conditions occur. I do know that you can’t catch them, as in spread them from pupil to pupil. Neither is the origin of each disease or condition important. As long as I know how to deal with them in the context of the school day.

It’s awful for any child to have a disease like type 1 diabetes and I sympathise. But, if I’m trying to teach a hazardous technology lesson and I just want to put to bed some unkind ‘banter’, then I’m just going to say ‘no, you can’t catch T1’, shut it down and leave it at that. I haven’t got time for an educational moment. In no way would I be implying …no, that boy is different, he’s just faulty. That is where you are being over sensitive.

If I received your email following such an interaction, I’d probably roll my eyes, write back a generic, ‘thank you for bringing this to my attention’ and delete. This really is over the top.

If the teacher was mistaken over how to treat your son’s condition, I’d understand your annoyance. But I think you need to explain to your son the likelihood of what happened and help him realise that we’re all different and will continue to develop differences at various life stages.

@Sidslaw you inherited the gene. You didn't inherit cancer.

The cancer is the disease, in the same way that T1 diabetes is a disease.

Obvs I have no idea what kind of cancer you're referring to, whether it's double-recessive, or anything else.

With T1, you need the genetic predisposition, which may or may not have been inherited - could be spontaneous- and also need an additional trigger.

While we're at it, DD might pass the predisposition on. Or she might not - depends on how chromosomes split during meiosis (that's covered in GCSE biology as well).

"With T1, you need the genetic predisposition, which may or may not have been inherited - could be spontaneous- and also need an additional trigger."

Ok, am I wildly misinformed in thinking all genes are inherited, in pairs, from both parents? Therefore how can a genetic predisposition be spontaneous?