A heartfelt video campaign is about to go public, aimed at shifting the discourse around one of the island’s top chronic diseases, the Bermuda Diabetes Association announced last night.

As the island heads into diabetes awareness month this November, the charity launched its Labels campaign against the unfair blaming and stigma that inflicts harm on those living with diabetes.

Lori Rockhead, executive director of the charity, told the gathering: “Our message is really simple ‒ no one should be ashamed of having diabetes. No one should let anything force them to not seek treatment or not manage their diabetes.”

Her audience included many of the people who took part in the 90- and 60-second videos created by the association, which will launch on social media and television at the start of next month to break the “negative attitudes and judgment that people with diabetes often experience”.

Ms Rockhead added: “It can be nuanced and totally innocent. Sometimes it’s just the language we use.”

Many incorrectly attribute diabetes to poor lifestyle choices, when a complex of factors ranging from genetics, the environment and socioeconomic circumstances affect the disease, and type 2 diabetes in particular.

While type 2 diabetes is largely preventable, and can even be reversed if properly managed, the less common type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune illness, in which the body’s own immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas that regulate blood sugar levels.

Sara Bosch De Noya, the BDA’s diabetes educator with 30 years’ experience, said the negative messaging often inadvertently came from healthcare professionals.

She said: “In the last ten years, in every single conference I have gone to, the voice and message of addressing diabetes distress has been getting louder.”

Ms Bosch De Noya said small changes in language could help people managing the disease to feel supported.

“You’re not ‘diabetic’,” she said. “That’s immediately labelling you. You’re a person with diabetes.”

She said the emotional toll of blame could lead people to shy away from revealing their condition to others, avoid checking their blood sugar in public, or refrain from consulting a physician for fear of being shamed.

“This is not a disease that people have brought upon themselves,” she said. “We need to replace judgment with support.”

Alba Fernandez, the BDA marketing and community relations co-ordinator, said the videos would “all start rolling out on November 1”, on YouTube, social media and TV.

Ms Fernandez added: “We are going to be everywhere. We’re trying to reach everyone, and we need your help to amplify this message. I would like you all to be diabetes ambassadors.

“Start conversations, spread the word, share it on your social media, so that we can together change the way the people look at diabetes.”