Working to improve diabetes outcomes for people with autism
DRWF and Autek have announced a new collaboration focused on improving diabetes outcomes for autistic people.
DRWF and Autek CIC are pleased to announce a new collaboration with an aim of providing relevant and appropriate information to help diabetes management and improve diabetes outcomes for autistic people.
DRWF and Autek have partnered with the aim of understanding more about the intersection of autism and diabetes, both from a perspective of specific challenges faced by this group of people, and also from the perspective of what works? For example, once autistic people form a new routine around diet and exercise for diabetes, this becomes a lifelong change.
Call to action:
- We invite autistic individuals to share their experiences with diabetes, whether personal or relating to a family member.
- All information provided will remain strictly confidential, and our researchers are committed to maintaining a supportive and understanding environment, informed by lived experience.
For further details, please email Steve Bond: stevebond@autek.co.uk by 17th September.
The aim of the collaboration, alongside other partner organisations, is to create a suite of educational videos that improve understanding of autism and diabetes, that can be used both with professionals who support autistic people living with diabetes, and autistic people themselves.
These videos will be created using lived experience input to ensure that they are relevant for autistic people and will be overseen by DRWF to ensure the messages are clinically valid.
The videos will include:
- Understanding blood glucose levels – insight from continuous glucose monitors
- The differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes explained in accessible, simple-to-understand presentations.
- Type 1 diabetes and autism
- Type 2 diabetes and autism
- Gestational diabetes and autism
A statement from DRWF and Autek on the collaboration said: “Diabetes throws up some unique challenges for autistic people, ranging from food intolerances, skin sensitivity and needle phobia, monotropism leading to rigid routines, poor interoception whereby body signals around hunger and low blood glucose levels are missed, specific communication preferences, and aversion to social situations. And every autistic person is unique in the way that these affect them.
“The prevalence relationship between neurodivergence and diabetes is complex with larger studies tending to support an increased risk of diabetes for autistic people. For type 1 diabetes this may relate to autistic people being more prone to autoimmune diseases generally, and for type 2 diabetes it seems to relate to hereditary factors and food intolerances and dietary routines.
“There is not a lot of information focusing on managing diabetes for autistic people, with more available for type 1 than type 2 diabetes. Informally, discussions that Autek social researchers have with autistic people reveal that there are many challenges, sometimes life threatening, around adapting to life with diabetes for autistic people, and a paucity of information designed to help this group of people and their specific needs.
“We want to create some energy around this topic and to raise awareness of the additional challenges autistic people face with diabetes.”
DRWF is a UK registered charity that aims to provide information and support to promote good self-management and to enhance quality of life for people living with all types of diabetes.
Autek CIC is a lived-experience social enterprise that aims to support disabled and autistic people live their lives on their own terms, through the creation of videos, and are personally aware of the challenges that autistic people face following the onset of diabetes.
Read more about living with diabetes in the series of DRWF information leaflets
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