I thought that those who have someone you care about who has diabetes, or are in health allied field or health communication would find this message important.  Please delete if you are not interested.  Thank you.

As you probably know, there are 20.8 million children and adults in the United States, or 7 percent of the population, who have diabetes. A disproportionate number of them are African American, Latino/Hispanic and American Indian.  Unfortunately, courts have been throwing out diabetes discrimination cases because of a Catch 22, siding with employers who claim that a person with diabetes is "too disabled" to do the job, but not "disabled enough" to be protected by the laws!

It’s clear Congress intended to protect people with diabetes and other chronic diseases from discrimination when they passed the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 but the courts are interpreting it that way. Congress has allowed a huge chunk of the population fall through the cracks – rendering them defenseless against workplace discrimination.  You may want to Take Action >>  to Protect People with Diabetes from Discrimination The stakes are huge: if a person with diabetes isn’t covered by anti-disability discrimination law, then it's perfectly legal to fire or refuse to hire that person explicitly because of his or her diabetes.

Rev. Dr. E-K. Daufin, Professor, Department of Communications