"If we could all choose a lifelong disease, we'd choose diabetes, so we could eat chocolate!" She laughed. I looked at her. How could she? She should know better! I was going low, and she was stood there, laughing about it. She's older than me, and she's my TEACHER! I thought they were meant to be smart. I said, as calmly as I could, "No you don't, miss", and she replied by saying, and laughing, "Oh, I know." But she doesn't. She knows nothing about diabetes.

That wasn't the first time someone had put their foot in it. I never really saw diabetes as anything freaky, or as a life long disease. I just live with it. I guess because I can't really remember life pre-diabetes. The only time it really gets to me is when I'm low, or really high, or have to check myself around lots of people. The first time it ever got to me was when I was about eight years old. It was a really hot day, and everyone was eating ice cream. I was walking home with my mum. I got in the house, and cried in the dining room, because I wanted some ice cream, but I couldn't. It seems silly now, but it was hard. That was the first time I ever felt different.

I don't really care that I have diabetes. Not really. I sometimes feel bad. I hate being high, I hate being low, and I hate having to inject with people in the room. But my life wouldn't be that different. And even if it would, I wouldn't know.

At school, it's a bit different. I feel like people watch me. There are only two other girls with diabetes at school, and one is a few years above me, and the other doesn't have to take insulin. And most people don't understand. One day, a girl that was my 'friend' said that "I'd love to have diabetes! You can eat chocolate all the time, and get to take drugs!" I felt like slapping her. She knew nothing. It's hard sometimes. No one really knows about diabetes at school. The teachers don't really get it either.

I don't think that diabetes is really a problem, but one day I found out it was a disability. I was shocked. I don't count it as that. It's something I live with.

To me, it's all natural. I have only ever forgotten to inject once, and even then, I was only really late.

Though, once, it was comical. At school one of the other people with diabetes came up to me. We hi-fived. Then my friend asked, "Who's she?"

I replied, "Oh she's got diabetes."

"Of course", she said.

Then I joked about everyone who has diabetes knowing each other. It was funny. Though, looking back on it, it seems slightly true. I've met lots of diabetics, in the nearby area. Loads. At 'support' groups, or at clinic. I always feel sad when I see a baby. They'll never know life without injections. They can't really understand the injections. I feel sorry for the parents, too. It's a struggle for them as well. And, when they finally have to explain it ... I can't remember when my parents explained it to me; it's just always been there in my mind. I never really think "Why me." Because thinking like that won't take it away.

I remember a nurse injecting me with insulin, for the first time. I'm sure I was crying. Now it's second nature! I even do it myself, with a pen mate.

The people at the clinic are very helpful. My consultant, Dr. S., once told me he was proud of me. I was beaming. He also said I was very good and that many young people with diabetes find it hard. It almost made me cry! It was very touching, and I think that everyone with diabetes should hear it. I think it makes it easier, the praise. Also, people there understand. And you can get free stuff!

Something, which annoys me EXTREMLY, is that on the T.V., or the news, or magazines, everyone lumps type one and type two together. In fact, every different type. I'm a type one. Not a type two, or a MODY or anything else. Type twos don't have to take insulin. In fact, type twos could have stopped themselves getting it! Type ones need more care, and can't stop it. I don't have the 'diabetes' you get when you're fat, or don't look after yourself.

Sorry about that, but that's something I feel strongly about.

At school, when people say "Oh, I'd skive off [school] with diabetes! I'd just say 'My diabetes is acting up.'" I shake my head at them. I'd never use it as an excuse. The most I ever do at school, to deal with it, is eat a Mars bar! I'd never use it to get out of anything. It's not right to abuse it. You may have to live with it, and be around people who have no clue, but things can go seriously wrong if you mistreat it. You always have to think about it, but it should never get in the way of real life. And it never, really, does!