Age: 26 Year Diagnosed: 2008 Location: Austin, Tx
“I’m a trial attorney and have passed the Texas Bar Exam. My biggest fears used to be my devices beeping or malfunctioning during a law school exam, a lecture or during the bar exam or going low and not being able to bounce back quickly enough. I started applying for test accommodations in law school and for the bar exam simply because I didn’t know accommodations were allowed in high school and college. In high school, I had to take off my pod in order to be admitted into the ACT because I didn’t know there were any alternatives to the “no electronics” rule.
I’ve traveled all over the world - Guatemala, Oman, Dubai, Argentina, Morocco, Italy to name a few - and I’ve studied abroad for months at a time in Brazil and in Madrid. It never occurred to me that I shouldn’t go or that it was dangerous to travel with type one diabetes. I always packed backups of backups and made sure to tell my friends. The only time I’ve had an issue was when my Omnipod pump malfunctioned and stopped working in Guatemala with a week left to go before coming home. I shrugged it off and switched to injections for the rest of the trip. Now, I travel with a backup PDM.
I’ve never believed anyone when they’ve told me to be more careful or not do something because I have type one diabetes. I believe that with enough planning, I won’t ever be limited by T1D. Take the testing accommodations, tell people around you about what you need from them, and make diabetes fit into your plans.”