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Original poster

To ‘EDUCATE’ this teacher?

342 replies

Misinformation · 05/09/2023 16:03

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!

OP posts:
ilovesushi · 05/09/2023 18:36

I don't expect teachers to be walking encyclopedias or medical dictionaries. They do need to understand the medical conditions of the kids in their classroom in a health and safety context eg. how and when to help a child with asthma to take their inhaler, when to call an ambulance etc, but I wouldn't expect them to have a medical knowledge of the ins and outs of particular conditions. I imagine teachers are bombared with a zillion questions a day from their class some relevant to the curriculum and some outside of it and they do the best thy can.

Viviennemary · 05/09/2023 18:37

It does sometimes run in families. But people can get it randomly meaning it's not in the family and they haven't done anything to get it like eat the wrong food. Maybe have a word with the teacher if other kids keep,saying inappropriate things. But they need to be reassured you can't catch diabetes off another person.

knobkopf · 05/09/2023 18:37

@Misinformation

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

Please tell us exactly what the teacher should have said in reply to this... ie. if you were the teacher, what would you have said to the boy who asked those questions?

Bovrilla · 05/09/2023 18:38

@ilovesushi is spot on

Main thing is teachers know what to do to help child in the room/procedures around condition.

HappiDaze · 05/09/2023 18:38

It's a non communicable disease

mathanxiety · 05/09/2023 18:39

Misinformation · 05/09/2023 18:20

How the actual fuck is it ‘precious’ to not want my son to feel like shit by a teacher’s stupid remark about a life threatening medical condition when he is struggling to understand why it happened to him?

She could have just said ‘I don’t know’!

Yes, saying it can’t just happen to anyone and you can’t get it randomly does imply DS is somehow different.

I have absolutely no doubt DS relayed it as it was said. He has better comprehension that most on here.

It absolutely doesn't imply that DS is different, and if he thinks this is the case, then you as a mother need to talk him down and coach him in how he can approach the teacher and ask her what she meant.

Could you see yourself doing that?

Being an advocate for your child has to at some point involve coaching the child in communicating with others about his condition in a way that doesn't alienate them, in a way that doesnt imply accusatiins, and is founded in an assumption that people are open and willing to connect with him. You get back what you dish out.

Original poster
Misinformation · 05/09/2023 18:42

Sidslaw · 05/09/2023 18:28

Because it is not wrong, and even if it were wrong, students have to learn what the exam board says they have to learn. There are aspects of the GCSE that are factually wrong, but this it not one of them.

Chucking random scraps of internet dirge at me doesn't change that.

A - I am a biology teacher and B- I come from a family where many people have inherited it

Show quote history

A link from Diabetes UK, the UKs foremost patient, healthcare professional and research charity, is internet dirge.

You seriously have many people in your family with diabetes but you’ve never heard of it?

OP posts:
Sirzy · 05/09/2023 18:42

But he is different and that’s not a bad thing. It’s just part of who he is. Everyone is different, everyone has different things that make up the unique them and that’s one of his.

Sidslaw · 05/09/2023 18:44

Misinformation · 05/09/2023 18:42

A link from Diabetes UK, the UKs foremost patient, healthcare professional and research charity, is internet dirge.

You seriously have many people in your family with diabetes but you’ve never heard of it?

Show quote history

I have family members who are among the foremost experts in the country! You are going to do your child some serious harm - what are you going to tell him to write in his GCSE science if he is asked!?

Qilin · 05/09/2023 18:45

It is something that you can basically ‘catch’ and anyone can get it. They haven’t separated a gene that contributes to T1 if there is one so anyone can get it as they wouldn’t know they have a gene.

But it isn't contagious - you can't pass it between yourself and someone else, like a cold or virus. You can't 'catch' it from someone else.

Yes anyone could end up with T1 diabetes. It can be diagnosed later in life and it can develop later in life too. Not all causes are fully understood yet but it isn't something you catch from other people.

I think the teacher was trying to assure the child of the former - ie catching it from someone else.

There is nothing wrong with sending in an information sheet, with key points, for school staff. Obviously teaching and school staff aren't experts on every health and medical condition, or every SEND. That would be impossible. The parent and child will usually be way more informed on them as it is their every day life, rather than a one off child every so often in their class.
Just keep it to one side of A4 if you can - key points/facts and then how it affects your child and how to deal with it, if there are any issues that happen within school.

SemperIdem · 05/09/2023 18:48

MonkeyDoodles · 05/09/2023 18:29

A teacher at my school once asked a boy/girl twin if they were identical.
Worse still she was a science teacher !

It is very rare, but identical girl/boy twins can occur. Which, as a science teacher, she was likely aware of.

MonkeyDoodles · 05/09/2023 18:49

@SemperIdem Applogies but you are going to have to explain that one for me as I am lost....

LegendsBeyond · 05/09/2023 18:50

Another reason I feel so sorry for teachers. Some parents are crazy.

FoodieToo · 05/09/2023 18:50

Sidslaw · 05/09/2023 16:53

It is inherited though, that is how most people get it

No it isn't .......

mikado1 · 05/09/2023 18:51

Sidslaw · 05/09/2023 17:10

It is inherited. If you don't inherit the vulnerability, you won't get it.

Show quote history

Three of my uncles (brothers) have it... (Type 1)

AIstolemylunch · 05/09/2023 18:51

Can male/female twins ever be identical?
In 99.9% of cases boy/girl twins are non-identical. However, in some extremely rare cases resulting from a genetic mutation, identical twins from an egg and sperm which began as male (XY) can develop into a male / female pair. This happens when the fertilised egg 'loses' one of the copies of the Y chromosome when it is dividing into two embryos in very early development. The resulting babies are then male (XY) and female (XO). The normal genetic make-up of a girl is XX. An XO baby is outwardly a girl, but her cells only have one copy of the X chromosome. This condition is called Turner Syndrome (more information on this, see the following link: Turner Syndrome).

Genetics is a wonderful - and highly complex - thing. And everything in your body is genetic and inherited from the sperm and egg that formed you, one way or another!

Sidslaw · 05/09/2023 18:52

FoodieToo · 05/09/2023 18:50

No it isn't .......

Show quote history

FGS - if you have any children doing GCSE - steer WELL clear of their science revision!

mathanxiety · 05/09/2023 18:52

Misinformation · 05/09/2023 18:12

So explain how DS has 3 siblings (all older) who don’t have Type 1. Parents without it. 24 cousins on both sides who don’t have it. Nor any other relatives on both sides going back 100 years who had it!

DH and I have 13 full siblings between us.

The link I posted stated there may be a genetic predisposition (but they don’t actually know) so again anyone can get it unless scientists manage to isolate a gene, test everyone for it and nobody passes it on!

Show quote history

medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/type-1-diabetes/#inheritance

A little reading material about HLA genes.

There's a lot more to the genetic component of T1 than you seem aware of.

GuardiansPlayList · 05/09/2023 18:53

Teachers have no medical training. Ask yourself how much you know about other serious diseases (unless of course you are a medic) - would you know the inheritance/cause of those OP?
Teachers are currently being asked to assess buildings for structural soundness/identity RAAC. They frequently have to be parents, counsellors, social workers, dieticians, nurses, you name it - none of which is in their job description.

SecretSoul · 05/09/2023 18:53

The link that the OP provided from Diabetes UK says this:

"Is type 1 diabetes to do with genes or lifestyle? Type 1 diabetes is thought to develop due to a combination of genetics and other factors which are not yet fully understood. But we don’t know more than that. There is nothing to indicate that lifestyle plays a part."

The OP has been furiously denying on this thread that it's genetics, while at the same time linking to Diabetes UK who say that it is.

OP also says the fact her other family members are fine proves it's not genetics. As others have said, having a genetic predisposition to something doesn't mean that you'll definitely develop the condition. There's often something else that pulls the trigger. In this case it sounds like the COVID infection.

It may be uncomfortable for you OP, but genetics are almost certain to have played a part. The teacher wasn't wrong in what they said, even if they didn't provide a completely full explanation. As others have pointed out, it's unreasonable to expect a teacher to have in-depth knowledge on every conceivable subject that a child could raise. I think the answers that were given by the teacher are reasonable. You can't "catch" diabetes.

I think you and your DS probably are still in the throes of wrapping your heads around his diagnosis and all that it entails. I know it's rough and I'm sorry. I have two DC with disabilities (which have a genetic predisposition) and I understand that it's not easy.

Research spotlight - what causes Type 1 diabetes?

Our immune system normally protects us against infection and illness. But in Type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks the cells in the pancreas that make insulin – the hormone responsible for regulating levels of glucose in the blood. Scientists are...

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/research/research-round-up/research-spotlight/research-spotlight-what-causes-type-1-diabetes#genes

Qilin · 05/09/2023 18:53

I can almost guarantee that if the teacher had just said "I don't know" as suggested then there'd be a thread saying "this teacher should be educated on this now and it isn't right that they don't know what my child's medical condition is/how it works."

SemperIdem · 05/09/2023 18:54

MonkeyDoodles · 05/09/2023 18:49

@SemperIdem Applogies but you are going to have to explain that one for me as I am lost....

They’re called sesquizygotic twins. I don’t think there have been many recorded cases of that kind of twins, to be honest. I came across an article about types of twins years ago and remember being really surprised!

Orange67 · 05/09/2023 18:55

If the teacher had said you could catch diabetes and then all his friends fell out with him and no one wanted to sit next to him, I suspect you'd be on here complaining about the word 'catch'.

YourNameGoesHere · 05/09/2023 18:56

Qilin · 05/09/2023 18:53

I can almost guarantee that if the teacher had just said "I don't know" as suggested then there'd be a thread saying "this teacher should be educated on this now and it isn't right that they don't know what my child's medical condition is/how it works."

Exactly. The teacher once again couldn't bloody win.

I'm still curious for the op to answer a previous posters question on what exactly they would have said as a reply.

Callyem · 05/09/2023 18:56

The way I have interpreted what I have read is, you must have certain combinations of a selection of genes to be able to develop it and whether you do or not depends on environmental factors.

Thus, there are people walking around without those genetic combinations who absolutely will never get it regardless of exposure to those triggering environmental factors.

Therefore not 'anyone' can develop it and the teacher was not wrong in her response. Also, it is OK to be different and you should be teaching your son this message.