So my son is at that age where he’s starting to consider colleges and career choices. So this recent headline really got our attention: “Diabetes Discrimination: A New Headache for Employers.” Obviously, we would never want our son to be the victim of discrimination due to a disease that he had no choice about getting.

So we read the article. And though the article contained some insights about issues employers are dealing with when it comes to diabetes, it was more insightful to see how terribly uninformed people are about this prevalent disease. The reporter failed to acknowledge any difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The recent court rulings seemed to place diabetics in two categories. Either they have the disease under control and are therefore, not protected under the American’s with Disabilities Act, or they are out of control and can be fired because they are a liability to the company.

As my son embarks on higher education and making a career choice, it certainly doesn’t help to have these perceptions in the marketplace. Though he has less than perfect control, he’s never missed a day of work or been unable to fill an assignment with his current employer. We can only hope that the next few years brings more understanding to the workplace.