Being Excited, Speaking, and Staying Mum on the Subject of Diabetes

August 18th, 2011 by Amy Gonsalves Leave a reply »

I decided to go back to working as a lawyer part-time.  I miss being in an office with other people and I think this job sounds like a lot of fun—very detail oriented, to the point others would probably look at me like I’m crazy for thinking it’ll be fun.  (So I won’t bore you with the details!)

It was pretty interesting, though, to go into the interview and purposefully NOT mention diabetes.  I mean, for me it often feels like I speak only about diabetes all day long!

So when they asked me why I wanted to work part-time, I just said I have a fitness business.  Weird to not mention how diabetes is such a major part of my business and my life!!

I didn’t mention it not because I don’t want to talk about my diabetes—I didn’t mention it because it isn’t the best idea to discuss what is legally considered a disability at a job interview.  If I hadn’t gotten the job I could have wondered if I didn’t get it because they didn’t want a diabetic working there.  I simply thought it was safer for both me and a potential employer to avoid the subject altogether.  Just like kids, spouses, sexual orientation—just because it is safer at a job interview to stay on track—the job and my skills are the important things.

It’s one of those things that logically I know is pretty unlikely.  But at the same time… I also know how much misinformation is out there when it comes to diabetes.  I don’t know what the interviewers’ preconceptions are about my disease.  I do know how complicated life is with diabetes, and I know without a doubt that my diabetes isn’t going to affect my job performance.

So I stayed quiet about that part of Diabetes Outside.

After more than two years of staying anything but quiet about Diabetes Outside, it was a weird experience!  I didn’t even say the name.

Of course, I’m excited to talk about it more now that I’ve been hired whenever the “what do you do when you’re not practicing law” subject comes up.  But they’d better be careful—they will get an earful!

I’m really excited to share my exercise class for people with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes that starts next month.

I’m excited to tell people about my upcoming talk about Exercise and Type One Diabetes hosted by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation on September 27.  

I’m excited to think and talk about a speech I’m giving to a group of Certified Diabetes Educators next month in San Jose.

There is a lot going on with Diabetes Outside! 

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