Diabetes in the workplace: it's our job to prevent, promote and inform. — ASN Events
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Diabetes in the workplace: it's our job to prevent, promote and inform. (#366)

Susanne L Baxandall 1 , Renae M Roll 1
  1. Diabetes Australia - Vic, Melbourne, Vic, Australia

Mark is a 38 year old who has been working in the retail supermarket industry for the last four years. During this time he had progressed to the role of assistant store manager. At a recent performance review it was documented that he was in line for a promotion and a prestigious training program. All of this changed a month later when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He was told that someone newly appointed would take on these roles now that he was sick. When he contacted Diabetes Australia-Vic’s advocacy program, he was ready to just leave his job and go to Centrelink.


This presentation provides an overview of the content and context of developing our workplace resources.


As a result of cases like Mark, who faced discrimination at work due to his diabetes DA-Vic has produced resources for employees, employers and diabetes health professionals that:


• Fills an information gap
• Promotes safety at work
• Informs about rights and responsibilities in the context of diabetes
• Provides a prompt/checklist for the diabetes education consultation
• Presents suggestions on the day-to-day management of diabetes while at work
• Address frequently asked questions and case examples
• Links all parties to sources of help and additional information.

Outcomes
Resources were developed, pre-tested with the target audiences and then refined to incorporate suggestions for improvement and updating.
The above aims were achieved for all target groups.

Conclusions and implications for practice
Diabetes in the work place has implications for those with this condition and health professionals.
These DA-Vic resources provided useful tools for people with diabetes and health professionals so that they can be empowered to know their workplace rights, responsibilities and lesson discrimination.

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  3. Diabetes and employment (2009).Position Statement of the American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care. 32.1:81-84.
  4. Disclosing Disability in Employment. Guidelines for people with disabilities and their advocates. (2007). Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.
  5. Studdert.D.M. and Richardson.M.W. (2010). Legal aspects of open disclosure: a review of Australian law. MJA.Vol.193:5 273-355.
  6. Waterhouse.P. (2010). What would it take? Employer perspectives on employing people with a disability. National Centre for Vocational Education Research.
  7. WorkWelfareWills on line resource (2012) Chronic illness Alliance Inc.