AIO about this text I got from HR?

[u/MeanderingDragon]

So to preface, I'm Type 1 diabetic, which means I have to take multiple daily insulin injections to live. I typically take 5-8 shots per day, and while it isn't fun, it is routine and necessary.

I was at work this morning and they had a small amount of food out for some sort of 'employee appreciation' which reminded me I hadn't had any insulin yet and my glucose levels were getting too high. I took a shot of insulin, got some breakfast, and went to my desk. A few minutes later, this text arrives.

I can understand that shots make some people uncomfortable. Trust me, I'm one of those people. But I have to take them anyway. Am I overreacting to think that if you don't want to see me talking a shot, you can turn your head? Should I have to go to the bathroom which only gets cleaned twice a week, and take my shots in secret like it's a drug addiction? Perhaps it is just me, but I feel that not everything in life that makes us a little uncomfortable is something that has to be pushed out of sight. Sometimes we would benefit more from understanding, acceptance, and perhaps acclimation.

Also for the record, while they say they "mentioned this several times", our HR manager scolded me once maybe two or three years ago publicly during lunch in our cafeteria. I ignored it that time, because friends sitting around me supported me after HR walked off.

[u/66clicketyclick]

It nuts how you need to tread delicately to “manage their emotions” while they “experience discomfort” meanwhile you’re the one in actual discomfort with these health challenges, not them.

Strikes me as “go hide your disability because it grosses people out” meanwhile it is a life-saving treatment.
Would they also tell someone passed out on the floor receiving CPR from paramedics to “please remove themself because it’s bothering people”? This looks to me like discrimination against disability, making it potentially ableism. This is what irks me.

Feel free to ask folks at r/disability their thoughts on this. The more abled/healthy speak down to those not health-privileged and tell them to bend & contort because it challenges their notion of “pwd over there and not applicable to me, that will never happen to me, I can’t bare to look.” Meanwhile, they can become disabled overnight, and they can also develop T1D post-covid (which is ongoing).

NOR.

[u/66clicketyclick → u/[deleted]]

Guess you’ve never gotten a tattoo done or watched someone get one? Are you anti-vax too? It’s not that big of a deal.

[u/mrscaptainpants → u/66clicketyclick]

Is it impossible to believe it could be a trigger for others with disabilities? Needles can trigger PTSD for adult children of addicts. Or those whose PTSD is triggered by open injections because their sick partner recently died. Recovering addicts don't have to explain themselves either. And definitely not those who have contamination OCD.

It should be fine, and it's really the fault of management for putting them in a position where they have to do it in the open, but don't demonize someone if they can't be around it.

[u/66clicketyclick → u/mrscaptainpants]

You know what? Now that you bring up PTSD. I actually have PTSD from watching an immediate family member die from a heart attack. They were diabetic too. I’m not stopping anyone from having necessary medical treatment to save their life though “due to my PTSD”. That’s a devils advocate argument in bad faith and you know it.